DDT “ULTIMATE PARTY 2025” Preview

DDT “ULTIMATE PARTY 2025”, 03/11/2025
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Sanshiro Takagi Return Match – Special Single Match: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Hinata Kasai
2. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura Vs Soma Takao, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Rukiya
3. Special 8-Man Tag Match: Hideki Okatani, MJ Paul, Demus & Ilusion Vs Daichi Sato, Yuki Ishida, Kazuma Sumi & Kumadori
4. DDT Extreme Title – 5 Way Blindfold Death Match: To-y (c) Vs Akito Vs Super Sasadango Machine Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Tetsuya Endo, HAYATA & Junta Miyawaki Vs Jun Akiyama, Shinya Aoki & Yuya Koroku
6. Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs AMAKUSA
7. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Survival 3 Way Match: Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya (c) Vs MAO & KANON (w/ KIMIHIRO) Vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu
8. Dramatic Dream Match: Zack Sabre Jr. Vs Chris Brookes
9. Special Tag Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Kaisei Takechi Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Takeshi Masada
10. KO-D Openweight Title & DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (K/c) Vs Minoru Suzuki (U/c)

I waited way too long to get this done in time. So long that I’m too tired to write up a proper introduction. It’s DDT back at Sumo Hall. There you go, I’m off to bed.

1. Sanshiro Takagi Return Match – Special Single Match: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Hinata Kasai

Welcome back, boss. Things just haven’t been the same without you. This year has felt like Sanshiro Takagi’s influence around DDT as a whole wasn’t entirely there, and for good reason. He had taken a leave of absence as a wrestler July 2024 to focus on his behind the scenes role with CyberFight while also taking better care of his health. He kept it quiet until announcing his return but the health problem he had was angina. He still found ways to stay busy in the public eye because 2025 is his 30th year in wrestling. He celebrated it by launching more DDT spin off brands, the first being MatchMake & Agent which was then turned into Super Japan, an alternate look of the company if it went by that name instead of DDT. These shows captured the island of misfit toys vibe from DDT’s past that just doesn’t exist today while also giving Takagi some sneaky ways to get physical again on his journey back to the ring.

For his return match, Takagi has put himself in the opening bout of the show. His logic is the first match on the card is the second most important match after the main event because it sets the stage for the rest of the show. He needed the right opponent, someone he has never fought before yet still have some sort of connection with so fans will care. Luckily he has just the rookie to fit that bill. Earlier this year one of DDT’s new rookies drew some attention by revealing his name is Hinata Kasai, the son of Jun Kasai! He made the decision to follow in his father’s footsteps and was guided towards joining DDT to become a pro wrestler. So far his skills in the ring aren’t anything to write home about but he got the crowd on his side from the get go and is able to draw sympathy from getting beaten down. He’s looking forward to his Sumo Hall debut and thinks he will make easy work of Takagi. He shouldn’t be underestimating him like that. After all, Takagi was the man who once flushed Hinata’s father fully down the toilet during a Falls Count Anywhere match inside this very building!

2. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura Vs Soma Takao, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Rukiya

Not much to write about for this match. The highlight of HARASHIMA’s 2025 was getting to share the ring with Hiroshi Tanahashi again and fully patch over an unpleasant memory from ten years ago. Toru Owashi was around to see his little friend win DDT’s biggest championship and Naomi Yoshimura is rightfully taking his time with getting comfortable in the ring again coming back from injury. Soma Takao still exists to shill the Dropkick Bar while I guess Shinichiro Kawamatsu will continue getting booked so he can do the Axe Bomber in tribute to the late Hulk Hogan. Back in August, Rukiya was able to wrestle matches again after spending over a year on the shelf with a cervical sprain. Given how short his career has been so far, having to start all over again from scratch isn’t as much of a setback as it sounds in his case. He is catching up to the other wrestlers in the D GENERATIONS class and knock on wood should get a moment in the spotlight next year much like the others have gotten in 2025.

3. Special 8-Man Tag Match: Hideki Okatani, MJ Paul, Demus & Ilusion Vs Daichi Sato, Yuki Ishida, Kazuma Sumi & Kumadori

The leader of DAMNATION T.A has a big match later down the card so the rest of the unit are stuck in an 8-Man Tag. Hideki Okatani came back from injury during the first quarter of the year with a chip on his shoulder and immediately joined DAMNATION T.A so he can get violent about it. MJ Paul continues to be around as the low card heavy muscle while the unit now has the grimy luchador Demus reuniting with them for a while (I heard a rumour he was minding an egg back in Mexico). Ilusion has gotten a lot of screen time this year by getting to speak on the microphone while everybody else in the unit just stands around brooding and being quiet. They were also fine with him carrying all of the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Title belts whenever they held those titles. Sometimes it pays off to be the little shit of the group.

Facing them are a bunch of wrestlers from DDT’s current young generation. Although they do not have an official unit affiliation, DDT has collectively branded them the D GENERATIONS and they’ve gotten to run their own shows under the name throughout the year. Daichi Sato is the teenage heavyweight that joined DDT from HEAT-UP during the Springtime. The ways things are going for him so far are looking promising and he is already winning matches against other undercard wrestlers. Yuki Ishida can’t help but feel he is the weakest member of Harimao and is trying to fight through that mental block. Kazuma Sumi has been figuring out his place on the roster as the speedy high flyer. MIKAMI’s guidance has inspired him to use the 619 as a set up for the School Boy as an effective way to win matches. The odd one out is Kumadori who only wrestles a handful of matches due to his commitment with the O-MENZ dance group. He has the athleticism to become a good wrestler but I don’t know long he wants to do this for.

4. DDT Extreme Title – 5 Way Blindfold Death Match: To-y (c) Vs Akito Vs Super Sasadango Machine Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda

It’s fitting that Halloween just passed because lately To-y has had the enthusiasm of a kid running around playing with fireworks. His run as the DDT Extreme Champion for the second half of the year has been spent finding ways to build up his online presence with match gimmicks built around social media impressions and streamer behavior. To prove he is the modern champion that the title deserves, he wanted his match at Sumo Hall to be against someone from the older generation who most represents DDT’s brand of Extreme wrestling. He didn’t expect there would be a lot of options.

The first person to answer the call was Akito but pretty soon after that Super Sasadango Machine and Kazuki Hirata put out messages on social media demanding to be added as well. Antonio Honda then joined in and at least had the good manners to tell everyone in person at a DDT show. Now all that was left to do is to pick a match stipulation. To-y has gotten into gambling recently so rather than pick the match as he would be expected to as champion, he held played a dice game called Chinchiro with everyone. Sasadango ended up winning and announced the 5 Way will be a Blindfold Death Match! Being blindfolded means everyone’s training will be for nothing if they cannot see while Sasadango never trains anyway so all of his opponents are now on his level. To-y is willing to bet that he can see through his heart and prove he deserves the Extreme Title more than anyone else!

5. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Tetsuya Endo, HAYATA & Junta Miyawaki Vs Jun Akiyama, Shinya Aoki & Yuya Koroku

The original point of “ULTIMATE PARTY” was to get all of the different promotions connected to DDT involved on the card. It’s not really about that anymore but at least we get to enjoy a DDT Vs NOAH 6-Man Tag match. Shinya Aoki isn’t causing a stir this time around by challenging Kenoh for matches that don’t exist like he did last time. Yuya Koroku is working hard but seems kind of aimless when he isn’t part of a title program. Jun Akiyama is there as a link between both companies. Same with Tetsuya Endo and we’ll likely find out in two months if his excursion will become permanent or not. He played his part in the TEAM 2000X story this year so I don’t know what is left in store for him over there as things currently stand. HAYATA has had the latest season of “MONDAY MAGIC” built around him as the GHC Hardcore Openweight Champion. While I had been following that series, I don’t watch enough of normal NOAH to know what Junta Miyawaki has been up to. As far as I know the only NOAH storylines going on is somebody joins TEAM 2000X, NOSAWA Rongai books something random or somebody gets mad at Naomichi Marufuji and burns a bridge.

6. Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs AMAKUSA

Breath a sigh of relief because the original plan for this match was going to be very different. DDT had wanted to do Danshoku Dieno against Daisuke Sasaki in a rematch of the infamous “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018” main event where Dieno wrestled part of the bout completely butt fucking naked. Dieno had just gotten out of surgery from acute appendicitis and claimed to have had every last drop of toxicity taken out of his body so this match was going to be the most clean match ever. Sadly for Dieno he developed an intra-abdominal abscess after his surgery and is unable to wrestle for the time being. So that’s him off the Sumo Hall card and Sasaki is now in need of a new opponent.

DDT then decided to go in a completely different direction for the replacement match. Sasaki is now going to face AMAKUSA, the junior heavyweight missionary from NOAH. On the surface this looks like a random pairing but if you delve into the history of both wrestlers you will see they are closely linked. For you see, AMAKUSA is the former Yuki Sato and he debuted in the same SUPER CREW class as Sasaki that was mentored by Dick Togo. Not only that but the two of them faced each other in their debut match! Sasaki was the winner and they would continue to cross each other’s paths for many years until Sato disappeared from the wrestling scene in 2019. That was around the time when Sato joined NOAH under the name Hao and then a few years later transformed into AMAKUSA. His current persona has no memory of ever knowing Sasaki and believes this match will be their first time meeting each other.

7. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Survival 3 Way Match: Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya (c) Vs MAO & KANON (w/ KIMIHIRO) Vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu

A match of truly heavyweight proportions coming from all sides. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya have become a united force known as The Apex and are currently the tag team to beat in DDT. They won the KO-D Tag Team Titles from Astronauts back in June and have had five successful defences so far against teams of all sizes. However it seems like if there is a team out there that are capable of beating them, it must be a pair of heavyweights. The Strange Love Connection believe they are that team of heavyweights. KANON has blown up in size over the last year and now weighs around 103kg while MAO is claiming he has also bulked up to about 100kg thanks to his square-shaped lifestyle. Meanwhile the only heavy hitting that KIMIHIRO can do is entrance introductions and victory speeches because SLC’s microphone work without him always fall apart.

Just when the match was ready to be booked for Sumo Hall, a third team entered into the picture. Team 200kg from Sendai Girls sent in a video demanding that they be the ones to get a title shot because Chihiro Hashimoto has unfinished business with Iino. The two had clashed several times back when ALL OUT and Sendai Girls feuded in 2019 and Hashimoto had her hand raised in victory in most of those battles. Simply the thought of Hashimoto being nearby has now driven Iino to lose his temper and go searching for her around venues so they can fight again. While all of that is going on, the soon to retire Yuu wants to test her might against Naya thinking she will be too much for him to handle. The solution to this three way dilemma is to make the match Survival rules so the last team standing gets to keep the belts for themselves. MAO promises a match chaotic enough to destroy Sumo Hall itself, although he wants it to only reach the level where SLC destroy their opponents instead.

8. Dramatic Dream Match: Zack Sabre Jr. Vs Chris Brookes

Oh the bittersweet memories of BritWres at its peak. It is what helped get these two to where they are today yet getting out of it at the time they did was probably the smartest decisions they ever made. It sent Zack Sabre Jr. on a journey all the way to the top of New Japan. It also showed the world that Chris Brookes was the perfect fit for DDT as he became that company’s top wrestler too. They were able to reunite here and there in Japan over the last couple of years. There were a few DDT appearances for Sabre and also some sneaky cameos on a couple of Baka Gaijin + Friends related events. But a singles match between the two hasn’t happened since 2017 over on the other side of the world.

Since this is happening on a DDT show you can expect the early part of the match to be a bit relaxed and light hearted. Maybe Brookes will do the rubber band spot. I bet Sabre remembers the days of Brian Conley punching his sidekick and telling the audience “It’s just a puppet!” so he can use Bunbun to recreate that gag and have it fly over the entire audience. Once they get all of that stuff out of the way then they can show us what can happen when things get heated in the ring between close friends. Anyone wanting this to be a proper technical masterclass should probably wait for Sabre’s match with KEITA in THE House to take place and hope that makes tape.

9. Special Tag Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Kaisei Takechi Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Takeshi Masada

Want to see what happens when the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion works more shows for DDT than New Japan in the month of November? Hey, I’m not going to complain about it. Konosuke Takeshita made his dramatic dream come true this year by winning the G1 Climax and then the IWGP Title. He is coming fresh off of a successful title defence against Hirooki Goto as well. DDT are capitalizing on this by having him team up with their newest draw, Kaisei Takechi. The handsome entertainer has now joined DDT to wrestle for them on a more regular basis and recently won his first championship, the KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles. Given how important this match is meant to be, Takeshita wanted Kazusada Higuchi to be one of their opponents. He still considers his match with Higuchi from September 2022 as one of his favorites. Takechi then decided he should pick Higuchi’s partner and chose Takeshi Masada because Masada was part of his debut match. It gives Takechi the chance to find out just how much he has grown against someone who can likely become a career long rival.

I’m excited to see Takeshita and Higuchi face off again after so long. DDT’s main event storytelling kind of pulled the rug from under Higuchi this summer as his King Of DDT victory and two month reign on top was brushed aside for a different direction. It probably isn’t something to worry about because as long as he stay healthy he will always be someone they can rely on, maybe not on the level as HARASHIMA but you can count on him staying loyal to them. Masada has become more comfortable as a wrestler by being part of SCHADENFREUDE International. He doesn’t have to worry about being the supernova rookie as first advertised but I hope he doesn’t lose his ambition as time goes by. He had a little taste of New Japan before on a dark match but that was pretty much played for laughs at the time because he had the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title. Maybe seeing Takeshita with the IWGP Title up close can stoke the flames a bit more for him.

10. KO-D Openweight Title & DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (K/c) Vs Minoru Suzuki (U/c)

This entire situation was all Yuki Ueno’s fault and he’s opened the door to making it worse. Back in January Ueno won the DDT Universal Title from Gringo Loco and came up with a grand plan to increase the championship’s value without needing to travel around the world. A couple of months earlier Ueno fought Minoru Suzuki in a tag match that ended in a draw. He wanted to face him again so what better way to lure the “Pirate King” back to DDT than to wave some treasure around to get his attention. A title match was put together at “JUDGEMENT 2025” and Ueno proceeded to balls it all up by losing to Suzuki. So after years of one-off appearances in DDT where Suzuki only showed up to torture Sanshiro Takagi, he had now become one of their champions and decided to stick around to wreck anyone else who dared challenge him. Various challengers of all shapes and sizes stepped up to him just to fall at his feet one after the other. With every victory Suzuki felt more at home in DDT until eventually the time came for him to start looking for the one prize in DDT that is worth even more than the Universal Title.

Ueno was left to regret his decision to bring Suzuki into DDT this way but he got over it in order to come up with another plan to raise his company’s profile. One day he would like to fight Konosuke Takeshita once more and he wants it to happen when both of them are at the height of their powers. Takeshita had the G1 win and later the IWGP Title so Ueno set forth to win back the KO-D Openweight Title. He achieved that at “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2025” in August then suffered another massive blunder when Kazuki Hirata of all people won the belt off him thanks to an impeccably timed Right To Challenge cash in. Ueno got revenge for that one month later with his own deviously planned RTC cash in and now with the belt back around his waist he is ready to lead DDT again. That is until Suzuki showed up wanting to challenge Ueno for the title in order to dominate DDT once and for all. Ueno saw this as his chance to redeem himself by getting Suzuki to put the Universal Title on the line too so we are now going Title Vs Title at Sumo Hall.

While the fate of DDT’s two main championships hang in the balance for the main event, there is not much actual hatred shared between Ueno and Suzuki. Ueno respects Suzuki for the freedom he has achieved as a pro wrestler and how it strengthens him. It inspires Ueno to believe in his own ideas to become stronger. Meanwhile Suzuki is enjoying the time he has spent conquering DDT this year, describing the experience as a new beginning for him. As we’ve seen over the last two decades, Suzuki likes to make himself at home in a company for a couple of years before eventually jumping over to another for a while and then again onto the next place. With that being said, he still took the opportunity at a press conference to attack Ueno in an attempt to injure him before their match. Even if he likes fighting the guy, he’s going to remind Ueno that pro wrestling should be a ruthless business.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “WRESTLE PRINCESS VI” Preview

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “WRESTLE PRINCESS VI”, 20/09/2025
Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

1. Suzume & Ren Konatsu Vs Mei Suruga & Uta Takami
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Staggered Entry Battle Royal: Pokotan (c) Vs Raku Vs Mahiro Kiryu Vs Shino Suzuki Vs Mifu Ashida Vs Kira Summer Vs Chika Nanase Vs Ram Kaichow
3. Aja Kong Vs HIMAWARI
4. Flag Scramble Weapon Death Match: Rika Tatsumi Vs Pom Harajuku
5. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Yuki Arai Vs Haru Kazashiro & Toga
6. Miyu Yamashita & Kaya Toribami Vs Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino
7. International Princess Title Match: Arisu Endo Vs Priscilla Kelly
8. Princess Tag Team Titles: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao (c) Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara
9. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Miu Watanabe

Act III begins. Tokyo Joshi Pro’s year long trilogy of major shows held at Ota Ward Gymnasium ends with the sixth annual “WRESTLE PRINCESS” show. And to be honest it’s really just the main event that’s doing a the heavy lifting here. That might end up becoming the payoff of a nine month lone storyline while so much of the rest of the card doesn’t have much to talk about when it comes to the last few months of shows. What it lacks in build it instead makes up for with wrestler relationships past and present. Most of the guests have some sort of association with the wrestlers they will be in the ring with. An injury on short notice also caused a couple of changes the card including one of the championship matches.

1. Suzume & Ren Konatsu Vs Mei Suruga & Uta Takami

The show kicks off with a tag match filled with kindred spirits. Suzume was the inspiration for Ren Konatsu to become a wrestler and it didn’t take long after her debut for the two of them to team up. Meanwhile the two sisters from other misters have found each other again. Mei Suruga & Uta Takami are back together to show that apples and ice cream are for everybody. These four have enough energy by themselves to keep the venue’s power in check for the rest of the show.

2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Staggered Entry Battle Royal: Pokotan (c) Vs Raku Vs Mahiro Kiryu Vs Shino Suzuki Vs Mifu Ashida Vs Kira Summer Vs Chika Nanase Vs Ram Kaichow

I might be wrong but ever since the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title got its new belt it feels like the championship has spent more time out of DDT than in it. It’s been hovering near TJPW for over a month now and they seem to like holding the Battle Royal on their undercard. The DDT mascot Pokotan is currently the champion and must fight off seven opponents to survive another day. Not a lot has changed with the usual crew of opponents getting involved. Mahiro Kiryu is still apologetic, Shino Suzuki has her Up Up Girls duties, Mifu Ashida really likes using the Y-Shaped Guillotine in her matches, Kira Summer got to wrestle in Malaysia recently and Chika Nanase is adapting to more of a gal style for her appearance. The wild card is Ram Kaichow. Just like last time she is a late entry to the match and TJPW is anticipating she will pull off a plan to win the championship before the match even starts again. I assume Raku will be glad to help her with that once more.

3. Aja Kong Vs HIMAWARI

I have worked out one realistic way for HIMAWARI to win this match. She will have a chance if she can travel back in time to 1987 so she can claim seniority over a rookie Aja Kong and therefore win via the senpai-kohai pattern of Japanese wrestling booking. Otherwise she’s boned. Those hair whips are not going to do a thing against Kong’s steel can. Even when Kong is having a good day she will still whack someone over the head with one of those things.

4. Flag Scramble Weapon Death Match: Rika Tatsumi Vs Pom Harajuku

Okay this was not in the plans at all. Rika Tatsumi’s original match got pulled because her opponent was bumped up to one of the title matches so instead of fighting the woman who licked her face that one time seven years ago, she now has to babysit Pom Harajuku. It’s bad enough trying to chase Harajuku around but she also usually finds ways to try and trap Tatsumi out of venues so she can almost win by countout. That might not happen here because special rules are being applied to make up for the match change.

Both wrestlers will start the match with a flag in their corner of the ring. If you steal your opponent’s flag you will be allowed to choose one of two pre-determined weapons to use for the rest of the match. What these weapons will be we just have to wait and see. It’s just two weapons though so it will only take both flags being captured for both weapons to come into play. Will Tatsumi bring her sasumata pole back? Can Harajuku wheel in a gacha machine again like she did in Texas? Is Yukinori Matsui going to be the ref so he has to deal with this silliness with that tired look on his face?

5. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Yuki Arai Vs Haru Kazashiro & Toga

Welcome “Lady Destroyer” to TJPW! Hiroyo Matsumoto goes way back with Yuki Arai by being one of her coaches for Tofu Pro Wrestling from 2018. It gives Arai something to bounce back from after losing in the main event of her previous Ota Ward appearance. The young team of Haru Kazashiro & Toga have been chosen to be their opponents. Toga is excited to fight Matsumoto head on and is even confident she can knock her down with her Elbow Strike. Although her new friend Yuna Manase warned Toga she better go all out to stand a chance against Matsumoto.

6. Miyu Yamashita & Kaya Toribami Vs Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino

It’s a Yukiniki reunion! None of Ryo Mizunami’s previous visits to TJPW this year had anything to do with Yuki Aino so it’s nice to finally see them back together after being apart for this long. The highlight of Aino’s year so far was becoming the main character of the third annual “HYPE!” show (and its director’s cut) which again begs the question, has she finally figured out how to take the next step up the card yet? Maybe it’s for the best that Yukiniki stick together because Aino’s best work is as a tag wrestler.

Their opponents aren’t much of a solid team yet but maybe there’s something to be found with this pairing. Miyu Yamashita might be heading into a new stage of her career as TJPW’s first “Leader” of the locker room. She’s out of the title picture and no longer has Maki Itoh to work off of in the company. However she sees potential in Kaya Toribami and wants to see for herself what the masked woman can unleash in the ring. Toribami is getting more confident which is also opening up more opportunities for her. Like getting slapped in the chest by Mizunami a lot. Gotta fly through that fire eventually, bird.

7. International Princess Title Match: Arisu Endo Vs Priscilla Kelly

Can we get Poison Sawada JULIE to take a look at the International Princess Title belt because this championship is back to being cursed again. In a sad turn of events, Moka Miyamoto’s title reign couldn’t even get out of the starting blocks because as soon as she won it at “SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’25” she then fell ill and had to take time off for treatment. When it became clear that whatever it is she’s been dealing with was keeping her out of action for the long term, the title was vacated. A new champion will have to be crowned at Ota Ward.

I though TJPW’s two choices for the title match was a good piece of booking. On one side was Arisu Endo who is in the middle of a breakout run that included reaching the final of this year’s Tokyo Princess Cup. She is also the tag team partner of the previous champion Suzume. Endo’s opponent would be Jada Stone, the American who fought Suzume in a neat two match series over the title during the year but couldn’t win the belt in either match. That’s an intriguing pairing to me. Then earlier this week Stone posted the bad news that she suffered a knee injury and had to cancel her next tour of Japan to go get an MRI scan.

So plans for the IP Title had to change again. Endo is still in the match and now her opponent is going to be Priscilla Kelly. It’s been over seven years since Kelly had her couple of tours with TJPW. Endo wasn’t around for that so I hope those who were have given her fair warning of what to expect. WWE didn’t change her that much when she was Gigi Dolin over there. Kelly is also starting to build up her own little collection of championships on the American indies. She hasn’t been shy about taking pictures of herself about to lick the belts in victory. Will this be the next fate for the IP Title?

8. Princess Tag Team Titles: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao (c) Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara

Terry Funk ain’t wear no mouthpiece and neither does Wakana Uehara.

The last time Kyoraku Kyomei defended the Princess Tag Team Titles against Ober Eats was in Las Vegas back in April. At the time Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara had only just begun teaming and couldn’t match the many years of chemistry that only a kaiju and a superhero could produce together. Shoko Nakajima in particular is having a heck of a year. Not only is she keeping up to her usual level on TJPW shows, she also went and took over MLW’s women’s division in America. To help build up to this match, Nakajima even defended the MLW Women’s World Featherweight Title against Kamifuku in Texas just last week. Her message going into this match is loud and clear. You won’t win if you can’t bite like a kaiju!

An injury robbed us of a clever match buildup because while Nakajima and Kamifuku were fighting over a championship in America, TJPW was going to have Hyper Misao face Wakana Uehara on the same day back in Japan. The booking made sense given that Ober Eats earned their rematch thanks to Uehara pinning Misao in an 8-Woman Tag involving the two teams. It felt like a kick in the teeth when the singles match had to be pulled because that’s exactly what happened. Misao accidentally knocked out one of Uehara’s front teeth with a Kingslayer Jumping Knee Strike during a match. Uehara hadn’t wrestled since and has been using the time off to charge herself up for the title bout in between her visits to the dentist.

This is where TJPW is different from a lot of other pro wrestling companies. Normally an injury like this is ripe to build up heat and maybe even lead to a revenge angle at the end of the match as a payoff. But TJPW is not that kind of wrestling promotion. As Misao explained with a tweet after the match, inflicting injuries is not a badge of honour here. This also isn’t the place to where wrestlers are motivated to take an eye for an eye (or a tooth for a tooth). With that being said I bet it will feel pretty sweet for Uehara if she can pin Misao with a Jackknife Pin for the three count again, this time to win the tag titles. It’s a pair of belts that have evaded Kamifuku for as long as both have existed in wrestling.

9. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Miu Watanabe

Something that TJPW’s 2025 should be remembered for is the story arc of Mizuki Vs Miu Watanabe. It’s been a tale of princesses and monsters often with the roles being merged together. When the year began, Watanabe was the Princess Of Princess Champion who became so dominant that she was accused of becoming the kind of monster she had to beat to win the prize in the first place. Then on 4th January Mizuki entered the story as the hero slaying the “Monster” to win the title as the true “Princess” she is. As the months progressed, Mizuki held onto the belt with two title defences in Ota Ward along with a successful defence in Las Vegas inbetween. She can make it a hat trick of Ota Ward title defences that can turn this reign into the most defining singles run of her career.

While all of that was going on for the rabbit, the monster had to lick her wounds and go find the princess she knew was inside of her. That journey of discovery took place over the summer where Watanabe won the Tokyo Princess Cup, a tournament that slipped through her fingers three years earlier. With that hole in her heart finally patched up, Watanabe found her glow up and is now ready to have the title rematch with Mizuki. Some hints have been dropped along the way from Mizuki noticing her opponent becoming more Cinderella-like to Watanabe literally tripping out of her shoe and leaving it behind while she was exiting an interview. Just like how some bedtime stories go, it will take a magical Tear Drop to turn the monster into a princess so she can live happily ever after. Hang on, isn’t Mizuki supposed to be the princess in this story? She’s not going to give up that cushy gig without a fight!

Wrestle Peter Pan 2025 Press Conference

I don’t have the time to write up full previews for this weekend’s “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2025” shows but there was a press conference held during the week where several wrestlers talked about their matches.

The current Right To Challenge Arm Cover holders going into the weekend are Kazuki Hirata (Yellow), Daichi Sato (Green), Hideki Okatani (Blue) and Soma Takao (Red).

DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2025 – DAY 1”, 30/08/2025
Tokyo Higashin Arena Main Arena

1. Hinata Kasai Debut Match: HARASHIMA Vs Hinata Kasai
2. Soma Takao & Rukiya Vs Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Yuki Ishida
3. 3 Way Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Ilusion, MJ Paul & Haruto Sakuraba Vs Akito, Naomi Yoshimura & Daichi Sato
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Yuki Ueno, Shinya Aoki & Kazuma Sumi Vs MAO, KANON & Kumadori (w/ KIMIHIRO)
6. DDT Extreme Title – Earn Your Own Life!! Pro Wrestling Life Or Death Death Match!: To-y (c) Vs Yuya Koroku
7. Muscle Sakai 15th Anniversary Of Retirement Match ~ Special Single Match: Minoru Suzuki Vs Muscle Sakai
8. Dramatic Dream Tag Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita Vs Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada
9. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs Jun Akiyama

There are two KO-D Openweight Title matches guaranteed to happen this weekend with the first day going to Kazusada Higuchi defending the belt against Jun Akiyama. The challenger said it’s been four years since he last attended a press conference for a big event in this position and he’s excited to be competing at the highest level again. He aims to win the title without getting injured so he can have a good match with Yuki Ueno the next day. He would have wanted to be Higuchi’s first challenger but HARASHIMA beat him to the punch. When Akiyama saw how hard HARASHIMA worked in the match it motivated him to get next in line for a title shot before anyone else.

Higuchi talked about challenging Akiyama for the title four years ago and losing. It remains the most frustrating time of his wrestling career but time has passed long enough for him to develop respect for Akiyama. It is with that respect that he will beat him this time. He also hasn’t put any thought towards any Right To Challenge title shots getting cashed in on him. What motivates Higuchi right now is to make it to Sumo Hall on 3rd November as the KO-D Champion because he never got to have a title defence there during his previous reign.

When Muscle Sakai originally retired after wrestling Minoru Suzuki 15 years ago, Suzuki thought Sakai completely disappeared from the industry. So when he discovered that Sakai quietly returned to the business as Super Sasadango Machine, he decided he will make him pay for going back on his decision to retire! If you get Minoru Suzuki as your final opponent you should never take your decision to retire lightly.

The result of the KO-D Tag Team Titles match on Day 1 will have an effect on Day 2’s card. If The Apex successfully defend the tag titles against DAMNATION T.A then their match against HARASHIMA & Shinya Aoki the next day will also be a title match. But if Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani win the titles then they will defend the belts on Day 2 in the 3 Way Tag Match. Sasaki said all that Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya are good for is being big. They aren’t funny, the tag belts don’t suit them and they’re both too ugly. Iino said he can’t tell if Sasaki is ugly or not because he covers 80% of his face with his sunglasses.

At the time when the press conference took place To-y had 15 life points and Yuya Koroku had 14 for their DDT Extreme Title match. Social media numbers are what determine how many Life Points they can get before the match starts. Life Points will be lost in the match after every One Count in a pin, every time someone gives up, every rope break and every time someone is thrown out of the ring. First wrestler to reduce their opponent’s Life Points to zero will be the winner. To-y admits he needed help in his previous title matches and has no shame in admitting he will continue to rely on the help of others from now on. If he can get 100 Life Points before the match begins then he thinks he will can win easily. One of the things Koroku did to prepare for this match is meet up with Animal Hamaguchi at the gym he trained at before going to DDT. The rules of the actual wrestling isn’t any different from a normal match so Koroku thinks he just has to avoid getting pinned while he whittles down To-y’s LP to zero.

The debuting Hinata Kasai wasn’t at the press conference but did an interview online to talk more about himself. His favorite wrestlers are CM Punk and Ric Flair because he loves American wrestling of all shapes and sizes. He wants to be the kind of wrestler who leaves an impact that people will never forget once they see him. It was Sanshiro Takagi’s idea to debut Kasai while he is still a college student because a debut match in a big building like Higashin Arena would draw a lot of attention. Kasai admits he currently does not have a lot of skill and is more of a clumsy type but what sets him apart from others is his mentality. He wants his debut match to stir the audience’s emotions with all of the passion and feelings he has held for pro wrestling ever since he was a child. He would like it if his goal was to win the KO-D Title but he thinks he should win support from the fans and trust from the company first to build himself up to that goal.

DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2025 – DAY 2”, 31/08/2025
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. D GENERATIONS Special 8-Man Tag Match: To-y, Daichi Sato, Rukiya & Hinata Kasai Vs Ilusion, Yuya Koroku, Munetatsu Nakamura & Yuki Ishida
2. Loser Of 30/08 KO-D Title Match, Super Sasadango Machine & Akito Vs KANON, Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda (w/ KIMIHIRO)
3. Special 3-Way Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani Vs Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida
4. Special Tag Match: Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya Vs HARASHIMA & Shinya Aoki
5. DDT Universal Title: Minoru Suzuki (c) Vs MAO
6. Double Main Event I ~ Dramatic Dream Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs Danshoku Dieno
7. Double Main Event II ~ KO-D Openweight Title: Kazusada Higuchi (c) or Jun Akiyama Vs Yuki Ueno

Ueno cannot predict who he will be facing for the KO-D Title on Day 2. He thinks he has made progress during his time without the championship and he’s been watching Konosuke Takeshita win the G1 Climax. If Ueno becomes champion again he does not want to compare himself to others. He would rather focus on raising DDT and one way to do that is to wrestle Takeshita when both are at the height of their powers! He’ll have to beat either Higuchi or Akiyama to move that plan forward. He knows he’ll have the stamina advantage going into the match because his opponent won’t even have 24 hours to rest after Day 1’s main event ends.

It took Minoru Suzuki becoming the DDT Universal Champion to make MAO feel it is time for him to win the title back for a fourth time. He cannot help but get excited over the thought of beating Suzuki for the belt in front of a packed Korakuen Hall. It’s all he can see in his mind right now. He even said it doesn’t matter if the win is clean or dirty, he will beat Suzuki doing whatever it takes! Suzuki is also looking forward to the match because he’s been wanting to fight MAO ever since they first met. With that being said he’s not here to play around. He’s going to kill MAO!

Matches #3 and #4 may swap places on the card depending on who wins the KO-D Tag Titles on Day 1. The tag title match will be placed as the 4th match. Iino approves of the idea because he wants The Apex to rack up title defences. Sasaki complained he will be too busy celebrating the title victory on Day 1 to defend it on Day 2.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’25” Preview

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’25”, 21/07/2025
Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

1. HIMAWARI & Ren Konatsu Vs Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami
2. Andreza Giant Panda & Raku Vs Kyoko Inoue & Pom Harajuku
3. Yuna Manase, Mahiro Kiryu, Kaya Toribami & Chika Nanase Vs Wakana Uehara, Toga, Mifu Ashida & Kira Summer
4. 3 Way Tag Match: Yuki Kamifuku & VENY Vs Yuki Aino & Haru Kazashiro Vs Arisu Endo & Jada Stone
5. Special Tag Match: El Desperado & Maki Itoh Vs Chris Brookes & Emi Sakura
6. Special Single Match: Miyu Yamashita Vs Billie Starkz
7. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Moka Miyamoto
8. Princess Tag Team Titles: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe
9. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Yuki Arai

Welcome to the middle point of the year and the second of three visits to Ota Ward Gymnasium in 2025. As we enter part two in this trilogy of big venue events for Tokyo Joshi Pro this year I’m trying to figure out if a three act story can be pieced together in regards to the company’s top champion. It’s either going to be that or the inauguration of their next ace. A successful tour of Texas earlier this month has provided a gust of momentum for TJPW going into the show and perhaps even a fresh group of eyes looking towards the event, at least internationally. On the undercard a lot of the wrestlers are focusing on the upcoming Tokyo Princess Cup. Even a few of the champions have set up goals to win the tournament while holding their titles. That’s if they make it out of Ota Ward with the belt still in their hands of course. Then once the Cup is done with the road will take TJPW back here for “WRESTLE PRINCESS VI” in September. Now let’s see if this really is going to be Act II of a year long story.

1. HIMAWARI & Ren Konatsu Vs Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami

I don’t know what it is about the new rookie but whenever I look into Ren Konatsu’s eyes I see the crazy vibes of MAO hiding deep in there somewhere. This is way, way down the line by the way because she hasn’t even entered her third month as a pro wrestler yet. All I’m saying is it only takes the little sheep toy clipped to her belt to start whispering ideas into her head and next thing you know she’s using her opponents to smash plastic boxes into pieces. If the sheep suddenly gets replaced with a Labubu then we’re really going to see some trouble down the line.

I thought TJPW had something going on for HIMAWARI and Shino Suzuki by making them team up every now and then going back to the previous Ota Ward show. Instead they are going to be opponents here. HIMAWARI is teaming with Konatsu and is the only one in this match who qualified for the Princess Cup. Suzuki’s failure to get past the prelimary rounds may become a pivotal point in her career because she is now seeing how little progress she’s been making in her three years as a wrestler. Uta Takami meanwhile has her whole future ahead of her and had a big role on this year’s “HYPE!” show. Maybe she’s the one I should be worried about possibly turning crazy instead of Konatsu.

2. Andreza Giant Panda & Raku Vs Kyoko Inoue & Pom Harajuku

A potential monster bout ended up changing its plans but in doing so brings in a brand new joshi legend into the TJPW ring for the first time. Max The Impaler was supposed to return to Japan so they could team up with Pom Harajuku again. Unfortunately according to TJPW Max has health issues preventing them from being able to travel for the show so that put a stop to Pompaler getting back together for now. Harajuku’s new tag partner is the fearsome and face painted Kyoko Inoue! I wonder if United Japan Pro Wrestling is the reason why we’re getting this appearance? Inoue is the founder and current president of World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana based in Kanagawa. The joshi group recently joined UJPW as a supporting member and TJPW is already a member so the connection is there to be made.

There might be a jealous Up Up Girl in the locker room once Inoue is in the ring because one of the highlights of her classic matches was always the Giant Swing. Will she be the one to do it to Andreza Giant Panda? The last time Andreza showed up in TJPW he went viral for getting bonked over the head with a Pico Pico Hammer. This place is starting to get too dangerous for him. For Raku though she’s been living a dream ever since her last visit to Ota Ward. Back in March she beat Harajuku to win the SETUP All Asia Women’s Title, her first proper championship reign. While she no longer holds the belt things are just going swimmingly for her lately. This match is just going to be another trip inside her sleepy wonderland. Maybe she’ll bring the Buc-ee toy she bought in Texas with her for Andreza to play with.

3. Yuna Manase, Mahiro Kiryu, Kaya Toribami & Chika Nanase Vs Wakana Uehara, Toga, Mifu Ashida & Kira Summer

Time to throw a mixture of women into the ring, shake it back and forth and see who comes out of it the last ones standing. Yuna Manase pays another visit to TJPW. While she’s been rocking the Ganbare☆Joshi division over in Ganbare☆Pro in Japan, she’s also been flying the flag for Kitsune over in America as their top champion. Mahiro Kiryu was settling into a new tag team with Haruna Neko until Neko got injured yet again so she’s sort of just been floating around at the moment. Kaya Toribami finally had something of a level up by getting to challenge for the MLW Women’s Featherweight Title last month and putting in a pretty good performance. She also has a new costume ready to debut for this show so maybe things are looking up for the bird. Chika Nanase is starting to move up into the next phase of her young career. Where she goes from here is anyone’s guess.

Over on the other team Wakana Uehara is progressing at a nice pace. She has a named tag team as part of Ober Eats, got to challenge for a championship and at this point is pretty much guaranteed to be part of the crew for every USA tour. As long as she keeps her appetite, I see good things coming for her in the future. The times Toga has mostly been standing out lately is from whenever she gets to play an ikemen role of some sort. In regular matches though she’s had a few setbacks lately. Mifu Ashida’s win-loss record since coming here hasn’t been great either. She’s been a bit busy doing other things lately but a time like now is always a good place to start turning things around. Kira Summer has been seeing the growth of women’s wrestling in Asia and Australia this year. It is motivating her to join in and play her part in helping it grow even more.

4. 3 Way Tag Match: Yuki Kamifuku & VENY Vs Yuki Aino & Haru Kazashiro Vs Arisu Endo & Jada Stone

Ober Eats is one of the new teams to appear on the scene this year but Yuki Kamifuku is going back to one of her favorite choices in her wardrobe. She is bringing VENY back so VENYU can team up together again! VENY has spent the year ruling over SEAdLINNNG with a five month reign as Beyond The Sea Champion. Once that title run came to an end she’s been going from place to place in the joshi scene with TJPW becoming her next brief stop. Yuki Aino is fresh off of coming out as the main character of this year’s “HYPE!” show. The lesson she learned coming out of it is she will never be alone in TJPW and that might finally be what leads her out of the maze she’s been stuck in ever since her sister Nodoka Tenma graduated. I’m probably going to be writing that opinion again and again until the end of time.

Aino will be teaming with Haru Kazashiro who continues to grow into a future high card player for the promotion. Once she gets her final year of high school out of the way, the sky’s the limit for how far she will go in the ring. She is already developing the ring smarts to gradually figure out how to perfect the Fisherman Suplex but a 3 Way Tag Match like this is probably too chaotic an environment to show that off. The third team is a fitting mixture of pep and spark. Arisu Endo has been taking a back seat for her Daisy Monkey’s partners success. She hasn’t been letting that dampen her spirits. Jada Stone is now well accustomed to TJPW but it looks like she has a new place to call home. She was recently offered a contract by TNA so I’m not sure if she will continue to do tours here. If this is close to the end then she’s certainly made good use of her time in TJPW.

5. Special Tag Match: El Desperado & Maki Itoh Vs Chris Brookes & Emi Sakura

Are there as many wrestlers out there who are currently living out their dreams like El Desperado has? He gets to fulfill his most violent desires by having several deathmatches with Jun Kasai, pals around with the likes of MAO and Chris Brookes especially when it comes to the more sleazy indies style of wrestling. There’s nobody else in New Japan who is quite as in sync with the current wrestling scene than good ol’ Despy. Now he gets to tick off another line in his bucket list by getting to team with Maki Itoh! The two got to know each other in America two years ago when they were both booked on the same GCW show. The idea was thrown around for them to team up. Now that it’s happening it finally occurred to Despy that he has to learn Itoh’s song and dance in order to be accepted into the Itoh Respect Army. Rehersals so far have not been promising. Brookes was at least able to pull the dance off so the current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion has no excuse. Come on man you used to carry a guitar around. Surely you can carry a tune too?

TJPW brought Despy & Itoh together because they needed a poison pairing that could match the same level as TeaDK. Brookes & Emi Sakura teamed up in TJPW last March for “GRAND PRINCESS ’24” and it didn’t go according to plan for them. They lost to The Magical Sugar Rabbits and blamed each other over the result. Time healed those wounds so they are teaming up again to give TJPW another go. Sakura has had several matches with Sakura over the years, most of them in an AEW ring. Thankfully they haven’t needed to staple each other over and over like Brookes and Despy do whenever they fight. Oh God, don’t let Itoh arm herself with a stapler!

6. Special Single Match: Miyu Yamashita Vs Billie Starkz

One of Miyu Yamashita’s toughest rivals on her excursions to America is Billie Starkz. When it comes to their previous matches Starkz has beaten Yamashita more than the other way around. It’s a friendly rivalry though and the two of them even had something of a good tag team going on during Yamashita’s recent stay in GCW. So when Yamashita heard that Starkz would love nothing more than to wrestle in Japan again she got TJPW to set this match up.

So yeah, that’s pretty much it. Not a lot of story to set this up and it remains to be seen if this is just a one off attraction match to have for the big show. Yamashita only has one championship left to win in TJPW to have achieved every single accomplishment available to her. If anything her winning this match would be done to establish her as the favorite for the Princess Cup. A win for Starkz here though should be followed up on. A younger wrestler beating Yamashita in her home promotion is worth a title shot of some sort down the line. We don’t really need to worry about locker room politics either because it’s become pretty clear recently that Yamashita has some sort of deal in place with AEW/ROH.

7. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Moka Miyamoto

Now we get into the big three matches of the show. The three championships are all currently on a reliable group of wrestlers so where the belts go from here is a good question to think about. If Suzume was to lose the International Princess Title here she would have left a good mark as champion. Her reign has been a little bit different than the others thanks to a pair of defences against Jada Stone, one in Japan and the rematch in America. It’s unusual for someone to defend a Princess Title against the same challenger twice in one reign. It’s also not that common for the IP Champion to defend the belt overseas when that’s meant to be the whole bloody point of it! When it’s all said and done, Suzume will have a good argument towards having one of the more defining runs as IP Champion. She’s already said she feels like she has evolved from a bee into a hornet because of this title. Her ultimate goal is to become queen bee of TJPW!

Her challenger Moka Miyamoto has also become attached to the belt but it’s becoming for a pretty bad reason. This is going to be her third time challenging for the IP Title after failing to win it twice before. It is the title she wants most because she believes having an international championship is the best way for her to spread Japanese culture across the world. Part of that culture is Japan’s technology and Miyamoto thinks there has to be some kind of Japanese technology out there that is good for getting rid of hornets! The two traded wins with each other during the Texas tour so it’s all even going into Ota Ward.

8. Princess Tag Team Titles: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe

Okay where do sasumata poles stand on the police brutality scale because they’re going to be mentioned a lot in this part of the preview and the girls have already used them to literally crucify Tetsuya Koda. The existence of these things have been the blight of Kyoraku Kyomei’s last couple of weeks. Other than that things are going great for the Princess Tag Team Champions. The big kaiju Shoko Nakajima was let loose in MLW and she quickly acquired the MLW Women’s Title. Meanwhile Hyper Misao lived through the stress of putting together the third annual “HYPE!” show and came out of it in one piece. They were looking forward to their next crazy adventure with the Princess Tag Titles but weren’t ready for how it would be set up.

One year ago the headline match of “SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’24” was the battle of Daydream between Rika Tatsumi and Miu Watanabe. In the aftermath the two appeared to have gone their separate ways and they went almost a year without teaming up again. That was until a month ago when Daydream reunited and ambushed Kyoraku Kyomei with sasumata poles, demanding a title shot. The champions agreed to the match because Daydream are the kind of strong team they’re looking to beat. Ever since then Tatsumi & Watanabe have been attacking Nakajima & Misao with sasumata poles in their preview matches. Kyoraku Kyomei reached their breaking point over it and stole the sasumatas away from their challengers. They then tried to properly recycle them under the watchful eye of GM Koda until Daydream appeared to try and take their weapons back by force. That led to Nakajima & Misao taping the poles to Koda like a crucifix but Daydream were able to take him back too. Now that the weapons are back in the challengers’ hands they have the advantage going into the title match. Will the champs decided to fight fire with fire or will they have something else under their sleeves to foil Daydream’s plan?

9. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Yuki Arai

This is going one of two ways. Either we are firmly in Mizuki’s era as the dominant Princess Of Princess Champion where she will headline all of the Ota Ward shows or TJPW decides now is the time to crown Yuki Arai as their new top draw. Mizuki has already toppled Watanabe (to win the belt), Tatsumi and Yamashita (the two defences) in this title reign. If she beats Arai here I see her holding onto the belt for a long time to come so she can have her definitive main event run in the promotion. Arai meanwhile made the choice to go all in on having pro wrestling be her career so while she has all the time in the world to achieve the final piece of the TJPW Grand Slam, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the company strike now while the iron is hot.

History doesn’t paint a clear picture for how this is going to go. Arai won the Princess Tag Titles on her first try and Mizuki was one of the champions back then. Arai was involved with the finish but it was Saki Akai who pinned Mizuki for the victory. When it comes to the International Princess Title however Arai failed to win it twice before becoming champion on her third attempt (hey, that’s a good sign for Miyamoto). This main event is her first time fighting for the Princess Of Princess Title. Only a select few have held the title and none were ever able to beat the champion on their first try. But that’s just the kind of record a wrestler booked like Arai would go on to break, right? After all, this is the idol who only needed one Finally Axe Kick to beat the unstoppable Max The Impaler and earned an endorsement from Meiko Satomura. She’s been groomed since day one to become the promotion’s next ace and her quick success is evidence of it.

Arai is not taking this moment for granted. It’s her first big match since graduating from SKE48. When she juggled her idol career with her wrestling career she felt like she wasn’t as good as everyone else in TJPW. But now that she’s fully focused on just wrestling she is eager to go challenge all of her seniors and eventually take the lead of the promotion. Mizuki has a goal in mind to win the Princess Cup while she holds the Princess Title. She has already proved that princesses are stronger than monsters. But are they stronger than successful pop singers?

Tokyo Princess Cup 2025 Brackets

Earlier today Tokyo Joshi Pro invited the 16 participants for this year’s Tokyo Princess Cup to take part in the random draw for the brackets. It was one of the rare times when every single wrestler showed up and was able to get their bracket spot in person. They got to pick in order of their birthdays. That means it started with Hyper Misao because her birthday is 3rd January and went on all the way to the end with HIMAWARI because her birthday is on 18th December. The bracket is split into four blocks with the Round 1 matches split across the first two shows.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO PRINCESS CUP”, 27/07/2025
Shinjuku FACE

1. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1A: Raku Vs Miu Watanabe
2. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1C: Moka Miyamoto Vs Miyu Yamashita
3. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1E: Mizuki Vs Yuki Aino
4. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1G: Suzume Vs Wakana Uehara

It has been over five years since Raku and Miu Watanabe last had a singles match against each other. Raku is excited because the most fun she had from wrestling against Watanabe was the 3 Way Match they had with Haruna Neko this past January. It was the most fun because Raku won the match! She tried to intimidate Watanabe at the press conference by forming a triangle over her head with her arms. Watanabe thought she was trying to be a traffic cone.

Moka Miyamoto has a very big wall facing her in Round 1 against the returning Miyu Yamashita. She is feeling good after winning her two preliminary matches to qualify for the main tournament and will do her best to make this summer a long one. Yamashita has seen how much stronger Miyamoto has gotten but hasn’t felt that power yet. So she encourages her opponent to hit her harder otherwise she won’t be able to beat her. There is also someone in particular that Yamashita wants to beat in this tournament and that’s Rika Tatsumi! Their last singles match was in May 2021 at an empty Korakuen Hall because of the covid lockdown. She thinks Tatsumi’s matches have become special occassions and she’s noticed how crazier she has become since that last singles match. So Yamashita wants to decide which of them is crazier!

The reigning Princess Of Princess Champion has a big title match coming up in Ota Ward Gymnasium next week but Mizuki sees a vision beyond that. She thinks it would be amazing if the Princess Champion goes and wins the Princess Cup! It’s going to be hard but there are a lot of people in the tournament that Mizuki wants to fight. Yuki Aino wants to focus all of her energy to face the champion in Round 1. That’s if Mizuki is still the champion coming out of Ota Ward. Aino sees a lot of Princess champions in this tournament and she doesn’t want to be left out because she is the princess of the summer!

Funnily enough, during the Texas tour Suzume and Wakana Uehara wrestled each other in a tag match then afterwards talked about how long its been since their last singles match together. Suzume is not going to underestimate Uehara after seeing her advance through the preliminary league. She couldn’t make it to the final four last year so that is her goal this time around. Uehara was pinned by Suzume in Texas but is using this experience to help her win the Princess Cup. If she gets past Suzume then she has some familiar opponents waiting for her in Round 2. It’s either the woman who eliminated her last year or her Ober Eats tag team partner.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO PRINCESS CUP”, 02/08/2025
Shizuoka Act City Hamamatsu

1. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1B: HIMAWARI Vs Haru Kazashiro
2. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1D: Arisu Endo Vs Hyper Misao
3. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1F: Shoko Nakajima Vs Rika Tatsumi
4. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Round 1H: Yuki Kamifuku Vs Yuki Arai

Shades of last year’s Next Gen Tournament still follow around some of the wrestlers. HIMAWARI expects Haru Kazashiro to be a tough opponent because she won last year’s Next Gen Tournament while HIMAWARI was knocked out in Round 1. But HIMAWARI has been working hard and wants to keep her momentum going into the Princess Cup. Kazashiro remembers losing to HIMAWARI in the 2023 Next Gen Tournament and she is an opponent Kazashiro hasn’t been able to beat yet. So the timing of this match is a big deal for her. She will aim to seize the last summer of her high school years!

There was a time when Arisu Endo disliked having to wrestle Hyper Misao because Misao would always cheat. Her opinion slowly changed over time and now Endo sees Misao as a really cool hero! She hopes Misao will fight fair and square this time, just like how Endo always does. Misao said she can’t lost here in Round 1 because the Texas tour reaffirmed what she wants to do in TJPW. She needs a lot of power to protect love and peace in TJPW so she figures the quickest way to get it is to win this tournament.

Shoko Nakajima believes she is the only one who can climb this mountain and win. She is currently a Princess Tag Team Champion and also the MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion. She also wants to face Mizuki in Round 2 for a champion versus champion match. But first she needs to become a kaiju that can step over a dragon. Normally Rika Tatsumi loves the summer but all of a sudden this steep mountain has appeared in front of her. She just heard about Yamashita targeting her and she has a score to settle with Nakajima after they fought each other to a time limit draw last December. And of course there is the chance she could face her beloved Mizuki in Round 2. However she wants to fight Mizuki in a rematch for the Princess Title after she wins the tournament so she is actually rooting for Yuki Aino to win and meet her in Round 2 instead!

While Yuki Arai has been skyrocketing up the company to main event Ota Ward next week, Yuki Kamifuku has been wrestling around Southeast Asia and having fun doing it. She now feels like if TJPW fired her today or tomorrow she would have no trouble surviving it. She wants to show the others that invincible people are the scariest. Suzume, Arai and Uehara all have matches they want to get in Round 2 but Kamifuku is going to be mean and not let them happen. Arai has been taking part in the Princess Cup every year since her debut. It helped her make progress one step at a time but this will be her first since graduating as an idol to focus solely on wrestling. She’s thankful to hear so many wrestlers want to fight her so she hopes to be at her strongest to surpass all of those opponents.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO PRINCESS CUP”, 09/08/2025
Tokyo Shinagawa The Grand Hall

1. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Quarter Final: Winner Of Match 1A Vs Winner Of Match 1B
2. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Quarter Final: Winner Of Match 1C Vs Winner Of Match 1D
3. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Quarter Final: Winner Of Match 1E Vs Winner Of Match 1F
4. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Quarter Final: Winner Of Match 1G Vs Winner Of Match 1H

The four blocks all close up here in the Quarter Finals.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO PRINCESS CUP”, 17/08/2025
Osaka Edion Arena #2

1. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Semi Final: X Vs X
2. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Semi Final: X Vs X

Last year Osaka got the Quarter Finals. This time they’re getting the Semi Finals! The bracket will be reset and with the final four being paired together by another lottery held after the Quarter Final stage.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO PRINCESS CUP”, 23/08/2025
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. 12th Tokyo Princess Cup – Final: X Vs X

The winner of the 12th Princess Cup tournament will be crowned here.

Guide To DDT In Las Vegas

DDT “DDT GOES LAS VEGAS!”, 18/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Yuni Vs Starboy Charlie
2. 3 Way Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Ilusion Vs Mizuki Watase & Shota Vs Dan The Dad & Kody Lane
3. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Nick Wayne, Shunma Katsumata & Kazuma Sumi Vs Gringo Loco, Marcus Mathers & Tyler Bateman
4. Special Single Match: Antonio Honda Vs Santana Jackson
5. Special Single Match: Shinya Aoki Vs Timothy Thatcher
6. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs MAO
7. wXw Unified World Wrestling Title: 1 Called Manders (c) Vs Yukio Naya
8. DDT Universal Title: Minoru Suzuki (c) Vs Yoshihiko

Bright lights, the sound of money being lost everywhere and of course there’s an impersonator nearby. DDT has come to Las Vegas for WrestleMania Week! Things really feel different with the show this year as many of DDT’s main roster are not making the trip out of Japan. Instead they are going to run more shows side by side with the group going to America. It means a lot of big names you come to expect from DDT are missing and the people brought in to fill those gaps seem a bit random at first. Some start to make sense the more you think about it but if you look at the card above it kind of looks like bits and pieces from other shows all being grouped together into something else. I still bet it will be a good time and if you want to know what’s going on with everything, you’ve come to the right place. You won’t get any gambling tips from me though. I’m already gambling my Switch 2 money to the Fortune Cup machines as you read this.

When and where is the show taking place?

The two shows will be held at the Pearl Theater found inside Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. “DDT GOES LAS VEGAS!” is taking place on Friday, 18th April at 3pm local time. “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW” is taking place on Saturday, 19th April at 2pm local time.

Where can I watch it online?

Both “DDT GOES LAS VEGAS!” and “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW” will air live on Triller TV with English commentary through the TrillerTV+ subscription service. The on-demand versions of both shows will be available to watch on Wrestle Universe a few weeks after the live broadcast.

Is this a proper DDT show?

Ehhhhhhh…… There’s a lot missing. When it comes to expanding into the USA, CyberFight thinks Tokyo Joshi Pro has become the better bet. I don’t think you will get the full DDT experience compared to their shows in Japan or even their recent previous American shows. It will be entertaining and mostly looks unique compared to anything else happening this week but I can’t say this looks like a complete DDT experience. Maybe treat it as a sampler if this is your first time watching the product.

Look at it this way. I’m playing Promoter Mode on Fire Pro Wrestling and I’m trying to remake DDT. A lot of the roster I want too book isn’t unlocked yet and I spent so much money on the couple of star wrestlers I love that I have to make do with who’s available in the Freelance section to fill out the rest of the card. I might end up discovering some new wrestlers I like in the process but the whole package just never seems right. This show kind of feels like that. DDT is always open to becoming a mish-mash of different styles and philosophies which is probably why some of the matches here look like they could have been booked on some of the other prominent shows happening in Vegas.

Got any non-wrestling tips for visiting Las Vegas?

Every casino looks closer to each other than they appear so be prepared to walk a lot. Even in real life The Sphere looks like it is CGI’d into the background when you see it from a distance. I like Secret Pizza in The Cosmopolitan but would not rely on it at all for a full meal. Pin-Up Pizza on the strip is the same quality as Sbarro so only go near it if you really want the novelty of eating a gigantic slice. If you’re going to see Penn & Teller at the Rio Casino, get there early to get a close up look at an old timey magician’s stage while Penn plays jazz music with his band. You might also get to be part of an inside joke that happens during the show. Tape Face is a really fun show to loosen up at. BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon is enjoyable but a little too Medieval Times for my tastes. It is also closer to pro wrestling than some of the actual pro wrestling shows happening this week.

Will The Steiner Brothers be at the show?

No.

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1. Yuni Vs Starboy Charlie

We open up with two heartthrobs in the making being pitted against each other. Yuni is part of NωA Jr. (New Wrestling Idol Jr.), a pop idol unit that’s been given the task by DDT to go and win a Best Newcomer category at a famous music awards ceremony by the end of the year. All three members of the group will be at this show so you may get a singing performance from them. Starboy Charlie isn’t singing yet but it might be in his future if The Crush Boys project he is involved in with Chigusa Nagayo ever decides to take the musical route. These two boys might just end up being two peas in a pod.

Yuni – See this 17 year old? Yuni made his pro wrestling debut at 8 years old when he and his mom convinced Sanshiro Takagi to let him try out for DDT. How did DDT get away with this at the time? Well it turns out the mom is a retired dancer from a popular idol group in the 90’s so the family is already in show business. Yay nepotism! Now fully ingrained in the business and at an age where DDT won’t get into trouble when he takes a bump, Yuni wants to live his dream of becoming a cool wrestler with loads of high flying moves in his arsenal.
Moves To Watch Out For: Phoenix Splash, Sky Twister Press, Moonault, Spinning Headscissors

Starboy Charlie – Currently making waves on the indies as one half of The Crush Boys with Titus Alexander. Charlie is more familiar with the other side of CyberFight where he has wrestled several tours in NOAH and once challenged for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title. Yes, he still wrestles in the denim dungarees. I still remember Jim Ross joking that the kid thinks he’s like Jerry Lawler in Memphis when he pulls the straps down.
Moves To Watch Out For: Shooting Star Press, Standing Corkscrew Moonsault, Kip Up into an Overhead Kick

2. 3 Way Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Ilusion Vs Mizuki Watase & Shota Vs Dan The Dad & Kody Lane

A 3 Way Tag Match like this always looks like it’s thrown together but it makes a little bit of sense here. Two of the three teams are more likely to appear in Ganbare☆Pro rather than DDT. DAMNATION T.A is the odd one out although a previous version of the group did get into a feud with GanPro in 2017 that nearly put the promotion’s entire existence in jeopardy. Mizuki Watase has travelled to Las Vegas before and has gone through the problems such a trip would give anyone. Hopefully he’s better prepared this time. Dan The Dad & Kody Lane have toured in GanPro before so this isn’t unusual territory for them. They are also already an accomplished tag team called Home Cookin’.

Daisuke Sasaki – Here is the grimiest heel you’re ever going to find in DDT. Dirty, drunk and depressed, Daisuke Sasaki is the leader of DAMNATION T.A because this way of life is a “Total Addiction”. He has the talent to reach bigger heights and has achieved success in DDT but every time there is a setback it sends him tumbling back down into despair. Despite putting himself in a self-fulfilled cycle of destruction you can never really count him out of the running.
Moves To Watch Out For: Crossface Lock (sometimes set up with La Mistica), Crossover Face Lock (Gargano Escape), Sasaki-Style Hurricanrana, Diving Elbow Drop

Ilusion – This young masked wrestler started off his career leaning as a heel but showed traces of babyface behaviour when he wanted to join SCHADENFREUDE International. It all turned out to be a ruse he planned with DAMNATION T.A to betray his new friends and leave them with broken hearts. Now Ilusion is just a prick to everyone outside of DAMNATION T.A, flipping off his opponents and cheating like hell.
Moves To Watch Out For: Swanton Bomb, RE:VISION1 (Modified Angels Wings), Missile Dropkick, Giving everyone middle fingers

Mizuki Watase – A former comedian turned pro wrestler and he is freshly back from a ruptured Achilles tendon. He speedran his rehabilitation and made it back to the ring in only 4 months which sounds absolutely crazy when you think about it. He wants to make up for lost time which is why he is putting in four times the amount of effort needed.
Moves To Watch Out For: Venetian (Wrist-Clutch Michinoku Driver), Running Elbow Butt, Back Drop, Hanori Tiger Suplex

Shota – A reliable handyman both inside and out of the ring. Shota has spent the last few years working as a freelancer to do what’s best for himself after spending so many years putting other people in the business first. He still helps out from time to time and likes to wrestling across the indies scenes in both Japan and America. I’m under suspicion that he still helps out CyberFight as a talent scout of some sort from time to time.
Moves To Watch Out For: Gannosuke Clutch, Frog Splash, Sharpshooter

Dan The Dad – Your father’s favorite wrestler. He sometimes has to wrestle the match while drinking his morning cup of joe from his World’s No. 1 Dad mug. He also isn’t afraid to dish out punishment the old fashioned way by whipping the opponent’s behind with his belt. He got involved at last year’s DDT show in Philadelphia where his open challenge was answered by the psycho mascot Chiitan.
Moves To Watch Out For: Baby On Board (Backpack Stunner), You’re Grounded (rope draping Flatliner)

Kody Lane – Wherever Dan The Dad goes, “The Southern Flamingo” is never that far behind him. Although usually they just see each other all the time in Glory Pro anyway. The two travelled together to Japan for a GanPro tour two years ago and they are familar with each other either as partners or opponents. In the ring though Lane loves nothing more than to springboard or slingshot himself off of the ropes.
Moves To Watch Out For: Diving Senton to a bent over opponent, Jay Driller, Top Rope Springboard Moonsault, Waffle Stomp (Elevated Double Stomp to a bent over opponent in the corner)

3. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Nick Wayne, Shunma Katsumata & Kazuma Sumi Vs Gringo Loco, Marcus Mathers & Tyler Bateman

Not much to say here other than throw a few high flyers into the ring with a couple of bases and let them all do their thing. Nick Wayne is calling over from AEW to get some ring time before he heads over to New Japan for the summer. Shunma Katsumata & Kazuma Sumi are the other two members of NωA Jr. Maybe they can convince Wayne to be their fourth man. Gringo Loco, Marcus Mathers & Tyler Bateman are all going to try and ruin the other team’s day.

Nick Wayne – It’s been said before that Nick Wayne is a young wrestler who has the world at his feet. That’s all well and good but he really needs to get moving because maybe his father figure in AEW doesn’t have what’s best in mind for him. The son of the late Buddy Wayne toured with DDT in the past to get himself ready for his move to the big leagues. Now the next time he returns to Japan it will be for the Best Of The Super Jr tournament. There will come a day when Wayne is watching over the wrestling scene as a grizzled veteran with hundreds of matches under his belt while still only being in his mid twenties. But he needs to start making his moves sooner rather than later.
Moves To Watch Out For: Wayne’s World (Sprinboard Flying Cutter), Inverted Hurricanrana, Snap Dragon Suplex, Fisherman Suplex

Shunma Katsumata – Nobody in DDT loves saunas as much as this guy. Don’t let his hobby or his eternally youthful looks fool you though. Katsumata can get crazy violent whenever he wants even when his weapons of choice turn out to be Lego and party poppers. That kind of behaviour took its toll and put him on the shelf for a year. So when he came back he traded in the Lego for a microphone to become part of NωA Jr.
Moves To Watch Out For: ¡Hasta la vista! (Lightning Spiral), Totonou Splash (straight Diving Body Press), Aufguss (Diving Foot Stomp to a standing opponent)

Kazuma Sumi – Where does DDT find so many young wrestlers to train and debut quickly? Well the quiet part is they usually attract trainees who dropped out of other company dojos. Kazuma Sumi is one such example because he originally trained with Dragongate before bouncing over to DDT. One year after his debut he was taken under the wing of former DDT mainstay MIKAMI and adopted one of his most successful moves… the School Boy! There’s an alternate reality where he should be doing Swanton Bombs off of ladders instead but we don’t live in it.
Moves To Watch Out For: Lionsault, Standing Moonsault, School Boy

Gringo Loco – Do you need an opponent to be the yin to your high flyer’s yang? Then go get “The Base God”. Gringo Loco left his mark in DDT last November when he unexpectedly won the DDT Universal Title during a series of shows in Seattle. He defended the belt around North America a little bit before losing it once he actually had a title match in Japan. This match will be Loco’s return to DDT, doing what he does best.
Moves To Watch Out For: Base Bomb (Spinning Sit Down Power Bomb), Olympico Slam (Inverted Angle Slam), Gorilla Press Driver, Gringo Cutter

Marcus Mathers – It’s looking like Marcus Mathers is one of the early standouts among the WWE ID class. IWTV is also currently counting on him as their Independent World Wrestling Title. He made one previous appearance in DDT as part of GCW’s Japan tour last August. His big viral spot was crying crocodile tears with Maki Itoh during their match. That might not work here. The guy’s a pretty good spot monkey but that stuff doesn’t get over with WWE’s online fanbase unless it happens inside a WWE ring.
Moves To Watch Out For: 450 Splash, Cutter, Blue Thunder Bomb, 999 (Diamond Dust)

Tyler Bateman – Vegas is a familiar haunt for Tyler Bateman so you may see him a couple of times throughout the week, particularly in the Shooting Star Fest series of shows. He thinks pretty highly of himself and is often introduced as “The God Damn Man”. He finds his moments to strike when the opponent’s guard is down. The big move to watch out for is when he goes for Death From Above, a falling Forearm Smash he usually hits immediately after his opponent kicks out of a pin.
Moves To Watch Out For: Death From Above (Falling Forearm Smash to a grounded opponent), This Is A Kill (Tombstone Piledriver), Love Kill (Northern Lights Bomb)

4. Special Single Match: Antonio Honda Vs Santana Jackson

This is it! Antonio Honda’s love of classic American pop culture has brought forward the perfect opponent for him. Why is he Wanna Be Startin’ Something’ to get into a fight with a living, breathing Michael Jackson impersonator? It will be kind of like fighting The Man In The Mirror. If you think a match like this is going to be Bad then I advise you can go Beat It over to the concession stand…… Thriller.

Antonio Honda – He has almost two decades of experience under his belt while his knees behave like he’s gone through four. Antonio Honda went through several phases of an unlikely pro wrestling career, settling into this weird mix of tranquil slapstick with hints of Memphis wrestling hidden beneath. Honda is the poster child of high risk equals high failure because he injures his knee in a clumsy way in almost every match he’s in. The pain is so bad he threatens to retire every time unless he gets to tell the story of Gon The Little Fox, a child’s tale that he then turns into a filthy joke. But it’s all a ruse so he can poke people in the eyes while his hand is in the shape of Gon. Honda loves classic American pop culture too so DDT went and found him the perfect opponent for his visit to Vegas.
Moves To Watch Out For: Octopus Hold, Diving Fist Drop, Bionic Elbow, Gongitsune/Gon The Fox (makes a fox out of his hand, says a lewd joke and pokes people in either the eyes or the nipples).

Santana Jackson – How’s this for a double life? A Michael Jackson tribute act in Vegas who moonwalks moonlights as a pro wrestler with the same gimmick. Genius! Santana Jackson usually goes viral for doing Moonwalk DDTs or replicating the baby balcony spot in Hardcore Matches. Think of an MJ cliche and he’s probably done it in the ring. Honda is going to have the time of his life against this guy. Although believe it or not, Santana is not the first Michael Jackson impersonator to wrestle in DDT. Someone by the name of Michael Okamoto beat him to the punch around 17 years ago.
Moves To Watch Out For: Sleepwalk DDT, King Of Pop Elbow Drop, Rope Walk Arm Drag, Dancing like Michael Jackson

5. Special Single Match: Shinya Aoki Vs Timothy Thatcher

Are we sure this wasn’t meant to be booked for Bloodsport? I mean are we really, really sure? Okay then. DDT has somehow become the pro wrestling home for MMA fighter Shinya Aoki. He certainly made the most of it so far. His opponent is someone you couldn’t find in DDT at all yet is still a fitting match for him. If Timothy Thatcher is going to feel a thrill from going hold to hold against Aoki, we’re not going to see it on his face. He’s there to win or accept total defeat from trying.

Shinya Aoki – If you were never around for even the immediate post-glory years of Japanese MMA then you missed a magical time. Shinya Aoki played a role in it as this little asshole who would come out to the Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo theme song and then rip his opponents apart with submission holds. It was wonderful. He unexpectedly turned to DDT in 2018 and gradually made himself at home by winning several championships including DDT’s main belt, the KO-D Openweight Title. Thankfully for everybody and their arms his personality had mellowed out by then and he has found wrestlers to get along with. His skills on the mat are still unmatched to this day and his mind for fighting is his most valuable weapon. Even his biggest doubters in wrestling couldn’t help but be impressed to see him develop the humble little Full Nelson Hold into a nigh-on unbreakable pinning manoeuvre.
Moves To Watch Out For: Sleeper Hold, Full Nelson Hold, European Clutch, Topé Suicida

Timothy Thatcher – In Europe he was once the housewive’s favourite but nowadays you can find him tangling with WWE ID recruits. No nonsense to a fault, Timothy Thatcher takes to the mat like no one else and braces for his opponent’s strikes the same way a brick wall would. You may think DDT would be the most uncharacteristic place for a guy like Thatcher to wrestle in but the company has always embraced wrestlers with catch style or MMA related backgrounds. It goes all the way back to their very beginning with the late Koichiro Kimura. So there’s sort of a legacy he can fit into.
Moves To Watch Out For: Fujiwara Armbar, Butterfly Suplex, Enzuigiri, European Uppercut

6. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs MAO

Nothing is stopping the Konosuke Takeshita hype train! The man has been on a roll lately and he may not be done just yet. He has some old business to deal with back in DDT where he tests how much his former allies in The 37KAMIINA have grown without him. MAO has certainly found ways to progress up the card and make himself feel a level above what he was before. But he might be in for a rude awakening if Takeshita doesn’t budge to his antics anymore.

Konosuke Takeshita – No matter where his career in AEW and now New Japan will take him, Takeshita will always have a home in DDT. He is gradually taking over the wrestling world while holding contracts with those three companies. Once he was part of a unit of sauna loving wrestlers called The 37KAMIINA until he left to chase his biggest dreams. That journey so far has evolved him into “The Alpha” you see today. He has done everything there is to do in DDT and only comes back to fight opponents he wants to fight. So you know this match matters to him when you see who his opponent is.
Moves To Watch Out For: Raging Fire (Spinning Falcon Arrow), Powerdrive Knee/Wagamama (V-Trigger style Knee Strike), German Suplex, Blue Thunder Bomb, Takeshita Line (Leaping Clothesline from the ropes)

MAO – Lives by the motto “Fucked up wrestling for a fucked up world!” so you can’t say he’s out of place in 2025. He was scouted by DDT as a teenager when they found his Youtube videos of him doing wrestling moves at home and outdoors. Just like Takeshita, MAO was part of The 37KAMIINA but very recently decided to leave the unit to move in a fresh direction. He has been immature for his entire career but in recent times developed an unshakeable confidence in his abilities and wrestling philosophy. MAO feels at his most alive during Falls Count Anywhere style situations. Putting him in an environment like Las Vegas is just asking for trouble.
Moves To Watch Out For: Iai Kick (Powerful Thrust Kick), Cannonball 450 (450 Splash), Michinoku Driver, Whirlwind Kick

7. wXw Unified World Wrestling Title: 1 Called Manders (c) Vs Yukio Naya

All of a sudden we’ve got an extra title match on our hands! Straight from Germany the wXW Unified World Wrestling Title will be defended in Las Vegas a few times this week. If all goes to plan, 1 Called Manders will put the belt on the line against his scheduled DDT opponent Yukio Naya. Manders is having a breakthrough year, one that I can’t help but wonder if Naya could have gotten in the past if things had turned out differently for him.

1 Called Manders – Previously known for being part of The Second Gear Crew in GCW and the surrounding indies, Manders went his own way and his hard work over the last few years is now paying off. His feud on the indies with Mad Dog Connelly consisting of Dog Collar and Texas Bull Ropes matches found its audience and received great acclaim online. Then a lengthy trek to Europe this year rewarded him with more success, particularly in Germany where he won the fabled 16 Carat Gold tournament and soon after that took the vacant wXw Title. He’s your man if you like your wrestling to be hard hitting with a bit of grit.
Moves To Watch Out For: Lariat, Stampede Slam, Chops

Yukio Naya – The Heavyweight division is something DDT has been trying to boost up for the last few years. Yukio Naya is someone they’ve had high hopes for in the past due to his lineage coming from a famous family of sumo wrestlers. His grandfather was the 48th yokozuna, his father was kicked out of the sport in disgrace and his three younger brothers are all currently active up and down the divisions. Sumo was never the road that Naya wanted to take though and instead he was directed towards pro wrestling by Satoru Sayama. Development was slow but when DDT became his home he eventually started to piece things together. He is in no way a finished product but through sheer determination it may someday finally all click into place for him. Watch out if he does because he can run you over easy.
Moves To Watch Out For: The World’s Best Back Drop, Choke Slam, Knee Lift

8. DDT Universal Title: Minoru Suzuki (c) Vs Yoshihiko

There’s going to be a few bruised egos in Vegas this week over a sex doll getting more bookings than some of the wrestlers coming to town. I’m not even making a crass joke at someone’s expense, Yoshihiko really has a couple of non-DDT matches going on as well as possibly getting the main event of this show! It is facing the one man who isn’t playing along with the joke though. Minoru Suzuki currently holds the DDT Universal Title and wants to travel the world defending it against all comers. So a sex doll suddenly appearing nearby wherever he goes is just an unfunny prank to him that is better off ignoring. With that being said have you seen what Suzuki’s schedule for this week looks like? This genuinely will end up being one of the more entertaining matches. Yoshihiko just needs to figure out how to make its dark power have an effect on Suzuki even a little bit. It’s almost as if it’s just an inanimate object…

Minoru Suzuki – The “Pirate King” of pro wrestling recently returned to DDT when Yuki Ueno used the Universal Title as a piece of treasure to lure him into a match. Ueno’s plan backfired spectacularly and now Suzuki holds DDT’s second most important championship. Since it is an international title, Suzuki now comes to America looking for anyone brave enough to challenge him. He has seen it all in his travels across the wrestling world but even he cannot believe who was first to answer his call. He’s going to show up to the event expecting to fight somebody because he isn’t buying that he’ll be headlining a wrestling show against a Dutch Wife.
Moves To Watch Out For: Gotch-Style Piledriver, Rear Naked Choke, Heel Hook, Slaps

Yoshihiko – The Grave Digger Doll From Hell has been a mysterious force in DDT for almost two decades now. It first showed up as the brother of Muscle Sakai, constantly replacing him in matches whenever Sakai suffered gun-related injuries backstage (it’s a long story). Yoshihiko vanished after that only to reappear years later as Danshoku Dieno’s surprise tag team partner. Over time the doll’s powers have only gotten stronger. It gained the ability to transform into powerful wrestlers such as The Great Muta, The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan. You can rip it limb from limb and it will survive. You can drive over it with a car and it will survive. You can throw it off a building and it will survive. To fight Yoshihiko is almost like fighting yourself. Only then can you discover your true talent as a pro wrestler.
Moves To Watch Out For: Reincarnation (multiple rotations into a Hurricanrana), Canadian Destroyer, Yoshihiko Destroyer (multiple Canadian Destroyers in a row)

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DDT/TOKYO JOSHI PRO/GCW “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW”, 19/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Mizuki, Hyper Misao, Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku Vs Miu Watanabe, Suzume, Arisu Endo, Yuki Arai & Shino Suzuki
2. Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara Vs Brooke Havok & Sandra Moone
3. Rika Tatsumi & Antonio Honda Vs Kidd Bandit & Shota
4. 3 Way Match: MAO & Yoshihiko Vs Jimmy Lloyd & Alec Price Vs Jack Cartwheel & Kazuma Sumi
5. Special Tag Match: 1 Called Manders & Maki Itoh Vs Yukio Naya & Microman
6. Special Tag Match: Mance Warner & Shunma Katsumata Vs John Wayne Murdoch & Matt Tremont
7. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki, Ilusion & Dark Sheik Vs Super Crazy, Marcus Mathers & Shoko Nakajima
8. Special Tag Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Masha Slamovich Vs Shinya Aoki & Miyu Yamashita

I made the Fire Pro comparison earlier but holy hell does this card look like I random selected everything on my save. Now don’t get me wrong, the lineup we have so far is so nutty looking that I’m looking forward to it. This isn’t even the full line up yet. Out of all the shows happening this week this may end up being the one with the most amount of never seen before and never seen again matches ever. I can’t do a proper preview of this justice so just join me in confusion at the sight of Super Crazy and Shoko Nakajima are doing double team moves together, Manders punting Microman into the third row and Yoshihiko taking Jack Cartwheel’s WWE ID deal away from him.

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There will be other chances to see a few DDT wrestlers in action across Philadelphia that week. Mainly MAO. You are going to get a lot of MAO. Yoshihiko is in demand quite a bit too.

PANDEMONIUM PRO “THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS”, 17/04/2025
Fremont Country Club, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Masha Slamovich Vs MAO

MAO is taking on the crazy schedule of wrestling 8 matches in just over 48 hours. He first match of the trip at Pandemonium Pro is already putting the pedal to the metal because his opponent is Masha Slamovich! The woman is one of the toughest people you will find in either TNA or GCW and just the kind of person who likes to match crazy with crazy.

CIRCLE 6 “MAYHEM AT THE MUSEUM”, 17/04/2025
The Punk Rock Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Bestia 666 Vs MAO

Around the same time MAO is fighting Slamovich he also has a match with Bestia 666 at a Circle 6 show. They’re only like a 10 minute drive away from each other so which will happen first?

WEST COAST PRO “VEGAS VACATION”, 17/04/2025
Meet Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. MAO Vs Jiah Jewell

Forget about LSU Vs Ole Miss. Louisiana Vs Osaka? Now there’s a real sports rivalry! Although I can’t find Modesto on the map of Louisiana and any cajun I ask tells me the only place I’ll find a Modesto over there would be in the craft beer aisle. Jiah Jewell is another crazy opponent for MAO to fight.

GCW “JOSH BARNETT’S BLOODSPORT XIII”, 17/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Charlie Dempsey Vs Shinya Aoki

Look, I’m not saying I want to see Aoki break Charlie Dempsey’s arm and flip him off afterwards. It’s just that if you’re going to call this Bloodsport then give us a bloodsport. Dempsey’s dad would understand that.

BZW “VIVA LAS VEGAS”, 17/04/2025
Swan Dive, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. BZW Tag Team Titles: MAO & Yoshihiko (c) Vs Marcus Mathers & Alec Price

If you haven’t heard, MAO & Yoshihiko have a side story going on where they are the tag team champions of Banger Zone Wrestling in France and Belgium. BZW are among the more obscure wrestling companies that decided to run a show in Vegas this year but at least they’re taking a good swing at it. The champs were originally meant to face The Gahbage Daddies for the belts but Cole Radrick is unfortunately out of action. Alec Price was able to get Marcus Mathers in as a substitute so wacky times are still a go-go.

PRIDESTYLE “OUT OF THIS WORLD”, 18/04/2025
Swan Dive, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

0. Yoshihiko’s Super Special Open Challenge: Yoshihiko Vs X
1. G-Sharpe Vs MAO

MAO is also taking in favours from the Nevada based promotions during the week. There is a heel unit in PrideStyle named The Cartel de Los Villanos who have called MAO in to deal with one of their enemies G-Sharpe. While that is going on, Yoshihiko will also be there on the pre-show looking to put out an open challenge.

GRAPHOUSE “FOR VEGAS, BY VEGAS”, 18/04/2025
Fergusons Downtown, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Lazarus Vs MAO

By the looks of things MAO ends his run of Vegas shows with one of the local promotions called GrapHouse. His opponent Lazarus is being advertised as the W4TN Champion but I’m not sure if the title will be on the line. Lazarus is also nicknamed “The Cannibal Cryptid”. Sounds about right. Also I think the venue is near Fremont Street so MAO should find a way to do a Moonsault off of Vegas Vic.

GCW “CLUSTERF*CK FOREVER”, 19/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Clusterfuck Match: Yoshihiko Vs X

Almost anyone and anything could show up at GCW’s annual Clusterfuck match that usually draws the non-WWE side of the week to a close. Yoshihiko has been confirmed to take part in the match for a second year in a row. Last year it made it all the way to the final three. Former TJPW wrestler Sayaka Unagi is also being advertised to take part. Can you imagine the kind of eye opening things Unagi would do in Vegas?

Guide To TJPW In Las Vegas

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “QUERI PRESENTS TJPW LIVE IN LAS VEGAS”, 18/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Rika Tatsumi, Shino Suzuki & Vert Vixen Vs Yuki Aino, Raku & Viva Van
2. Yuki Arai Vs Arisu Endo
3. Maki Itoh & Zara Zakher Vs Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku
4. TNA World Knockouts Title: Masha Slamovich (c) Vs Miu Watanabe
5. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Jada Stone
6. Princess Tag Team Titles: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao (c) Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara
7. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita

I never would have thought a company as innocent as Tokyo Joshi Pro would dive head first into Las Vegas but here we are. The busiest week of the wrestling calendar has arrived and TJPW has one of the bigger shows going on in regards to big stakes for the important matches. All three championships belonging to the promotion will be on the line as the show is pretty much replacing the annual Golden Week event for this year. So if you’re new to the world of TJPW, an existing fan wanting to read up on everything or even a commentator looking for context beyond a Wikipedia page, this guide is intended for you!

Where and when are the shows taking place?

The two shows will be held at the Pearl Theater found inside Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. “TJPW LIVE IN LAS VEGAS” is taking place on Friday, 18th April at 11am local time. “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW” is taking place on Saturday, 19th April at 2pm local time.

Where can I watch it online?

Both “TJPW LIVE IN LAS VEGAS” and “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW” will air live on Triller TV with English commentary through the TrillerTV+ subscription service. The on-demand versions of both shows will be available to watch on Wrestle Universe a few weeks after the live broadcast.

Is this a proper TJPW show?

Yes and it’s being lined up to be one of their most important shows of the year. For many years TJPW would run a show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo during Golden Week in May. However they have changed their schedule for this year and are instead doing two smaller scale shows outside of Tokyo during the week. The reason for that is because all of the important championships matches you would normally see at Korakuen are happening at this Las Vegas show instead.  The veteran side of the roster are all here and accounted for. The people missing are the low carders and young generation who only have one or two years of experience under their belts. They will staying behind in Japan to run a separate TJPW show alongside this one. The guest wrestlers taking part here have all been regularly booked by TJPW in the past as well so nobody sticks out like a sore thumb.

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1. Rika Tatsumi, Shino Suzuki & Vert Vixen Vs Yuki Aino, Raku & Viva Van

Don’t know what to expect from the start? How about a little bit of everything this promotion has to offer? Every corner of what TJPW can do can be found in this match from accomplished former champions and tough midcarders to comedy gimmicks and a few guests thrown in for good measure. Rika Tatsumi is one of the pillars of the company, what Shino Suzuki lacks in experience she makes up for with her peppiness and Vert Vixen gets to step into the TJPW ring again. On the other team we have two thirds of the Love Triangle teaming up with a familiar opponent. Yuki Aino is ready to go as always, Raku is already set to have this year be her best one yet after she recently won her first championship and Viva Van is being introduced back into the fold before she returns to TJPW for a tour in Japan next month.

Rika Tatsumi – “The White Dragon” Rika Tatsumi takes her name and some of her moveset from Tatsumi Fujinami. She has also developed hips as hard of diamonds thanks to some special training with Shiro Koshinaka. She is one of TJPW’s most decorated wrestlers, being one of only two grand slam champions in the promotion (and the first one at that). But turning into such a powerful creature eventually came at a cost. The weight of success and power she obtained gradually turned her a little bit psycho. When you step into the ring with Tatsumi whether as friend or foe, she will find a way to strangle you.
Moves To Watch Out For: White Dragon Sleeper, Twist Of Fate, Hip Attack, “Let’s Go!” Elbow Drop, Strangling Her Opponents

Shino Suzuki – Welcome the first of three Up Up Girls to appear on the show. The Up Up Girls are a pop idol group that collaborated with TJPW to create a pro wrestling spin-off stable. The Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) always perform a song or two at the beginning of TJPW shows before wrestling matches later on the card. Shino Suzuki is one of the newer members of the groups. She is nicknamed “She Know” because she worked as a bus guide before becoming an idol and pro wrestler. While currently low on the totem pole in TJPW, she will display gutsy performances along with her wealth of tourism knowledge.
Moves To Watch Out For: Sleeper Hold, Backward Rolling Cradle, Swinging Neckbreaker

Vert Vixen – Going from what I see online you can spell the name as either VertVixen or Vert Vixen. Obsessed with video games, her ring gear is often inspired by something gaming related. She is nicknamed Player One because Player One always wins! In previous TJPW appearances she has been successful enough to get a few title shots but she has yet to win a championship in this company. She has a busy schedule coming up for the week that might mix her up with other corners of the joshi world.
Moves To Watch Out For: Game Over (Ki Crusher), Blue Thunder Bomb, Rolling Stunner, Sharpshooter

Yuki Aino – At one time Yuki Aino was simply a ring announcer for TJPW who turned into a pro wrestler in order to team up with her sister (the now retired Nodoka Tenma). For years tag team wrestling has been her forte and Aino usually finds her way back there whenever her attempts to go solo end in failure. However 2024 was her best period yet as a singles wrestler. She had a Cinderella run in the Tokyo Princess Cup that led her all the way to the final. Don’t take her lightly when you hear she is powered by love. She can be as stubborn as they come and on her best days will hit you like a firetruck fuelled by love.
Moves To Watch Out For: Venus DDT (Inverted DDT), UBV/Unlimited Burning Venus (Double Arm Side Buster), Full Nelson Of Love And Fire (Full Nelson Camel Clutch), Side Suplex

Raku – The second member of The Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) to appear on the card, Raku’s entire personality can be summed down to naps and trains. She knows so much railway trivia that on every show she will have a Train Of The Day to tell the audience. Will the Las Vegas Monorail be up to her standards? Raku’s moveset is built around sending her opponents to sleep so she can run over them with the Oyasumi Express. She is also sometimes armed with a pillow. Somehow this entire package has made her absolutely adored by fans and the roster alike. She also inexplicably became a proper champion this year by winning the SETUP All Asia Women’s Title.
Moves To Watch Out For: Doctor Yellow (Jumping Neckbreaker), Hurricane Turn (Cross-Arm Backslide Pin), Oyasumi/Good Night Express (running on top of the opponent over and over), Good Night Sleeper, Poppo Chop! (Brain Chop)

Viva Van – “The Hellbent Vixen” is one of the most well travelled female wrestlers on the scene today and can currently be seen in ROH. Thanks to working relationships between the promotions she has also done tours of Mexico with CMLL in the past six months. So her appearances in TJPW have been few and far between. The last time she was here she was fighting against Aino & Raku. This time around she is giving Love Triangle a shot by joining forces with them.
Moves To Watch Out For: Hellevator (Electric Chair spun into a Power Bomb), Ocean Cyclone Suplex, Code Red, Meteora, Butterfly Suplex

2. Yuki Arai Vs Arisu Endo

A match that will present a bright future for TJPW. Yuki Arai has been the company’s biggest pet project for a few year’s now. The idol has become one of their draws for her “Two-Sword” careers in both music and wrestling. But the music career has now ended so she can become fully dedicated as a pro wrestler. If they hadn’t been pushing her hard before, the stage is set for it to happen now! Her opponent Arisu Endo is currently licking her wounds after losing a big match against her own tag team partner. There’s a strong bond connecting all TJPW wrestlers who were born in 1998, aka The 1998 Class, which these two are a part of. Endo will want to show that it’s not just Arai who TJPW can count on in the future.

Yuki Arai – Remember the name if you want to follow joshi because TJPW has grand plans in place for Yuki Arai. Up until recently she was a pop idol with the group SKE48 and was known for juggling her singing career with her wrestling career. But she recently graduated from SKE48 to fully dedicate herself to pro wrestling. Already a multiple time champion she is only missing the big one to reach the TJPW Grand Slam. And given how much TJPW is behind her it feels like it will only be a matter of time before she wins it.
Moves To Watch Out For: Finally (Heel Drop axe kick), Rookie Award (Pump Kick to a kneeling opponent), Sharpshooter, Full Nelson Buster

Arisu Endo – One of the big tag teams in TJPW is called Daisy Monkey. Arisu Endo makes up the Monkey part of the team. She is Aizuwakamatsu City’s most cheerful tourism ambassador, representing her hometown with a thumbs up and a smile. Endo also has a habit of constantly dying her hair in new ways, using every colour in the world you can think of. She has so much pride in where she comes from that she named many of her moves after local destinations and traditions. She has also become good friends with Arai away from wrestling so them getting a match like this on a big stage is going to mean a lot to them.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ju no Okite (Hercules Cutter), Camel Clutch, Mt. Bandai (2nd Rope Springboard Dropkick), Tsuruga Castle (Guillotine Knee Drop)

3. Maki Itoh & Zara Zakher Vs Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku

Pairing Maki Itoh and Zara Zakher together might be the most attitude TJPW can get out of any tag team they can think of. Zakher’s wrestling career is still fairly new and she is busy earning her stripes on a WWE ID contract. Itoh made it no secret in the past she would take a big fat contract from an American company if she gets offered one. Maybe Zakher can put in a good word for her if they do well against their opponents. What happens when you put a wasteland warrior like Max The Impaler with the childlike innocence of Pom Harajuku? You get Pompaler, a buddy-buddy tag team that Pixar wished they came up with themselves. Want to see someone use their friend as a human missile? Then this is the match to watch.

Maki Itoh – A failed idol with an endless appetite for fame who won the hearts of pro wrestling fans around the world by transforming into a cute, foul mouthed psychopath. When she’s about to punch her opponent in the corner she always shouts “Who is the cutest in the world?” and the audience always yell “Itoh-chan!” back at her. She used to be self-conscious over being big-headed until she discovered that having an iron head is perfect for wrestling. After spending years trying to find acceptance and success in TJPW, she ended up finding it overseas in places like GCW. In fact nowadays you’re more likely to see Itoh carving up opponents with a pizza cutter in GCW than you will see her trying to be an idol in TJPW!
Moves To Watch Out For: Itoh Special/Deluxe/Punish (Variations of the Texas Cloverleaf), Flying Big Head (Diving Headbutt), Kokeshi Headbutt, I.S.D/Itoh Suicide DDT (Flying DDT from the top rope), The Cutest Knuckle Punch In The World

Zara Zakher – Many wrestling fans discovered Zara Zakher last November when she was one of the first wrestlers announced to be part of the brand new WWE ID initiative. But TJPW fans were ahead of the curve many months before that thanks to her tours of Japan throughout 2024. With only two years of experience under her belt, Zakher was able to hold her own against some of TJPW’s veteran guard for her first couple of tours. Then came the summer tour where she entered the Tokyo Princess Cup, went on a wild run of upsets against tournament favourites and made it all the way to the semi finals. Her performances have earned her title shots and while she has come out of them empty handed, it is undeniable that the Petite Powerhouse has already left a mark in TJPW.
Moves To Watch Out For: Control Z (Screw Bomb), Lariat, Standing Moonsault

Max The Impaler – Puroresu has a history of bringing over wild rampaging warriors from the western world to cause chaos in their rings. Who could have guess TJPW of all companies would join in the tradition? Whenever “The Non-Binary Nightmare” comes over to TJPW you can expect a path of chaos being left in their wake. And yet Max has ended up becoming really well liked by the roster resulting in some pretty strong bonds of friendship being forged out of it. Sure there are times when Max tears the building apart and management gets a little worried about getting future bookings with those venues but Max is now part of the family. And there is one wrestler more than anyone else who Max has established a very strong attachment with.
Moves To Watch Out For: Welcome To The Wasteland (Canadian Backbreaker Drop), Short-Range Lariat, Body Block

Pom Harajuku – Bright and colorful costumes, loud screaming and a lot of shin kicking. Pom Harajuku’s fighting style can be compared to a three year old throwing a temper tantrum. In recent years she has become the centre of Max The Impaler’s attention. They were originally opponents in matches that more resembled a movie monster chasing down their prey until Max began forming an attachment to Harajuku. Before we knew it the two of them became a tag team called Pompaler where Max constantly finds new ways to throw Harajuku at their opponents. When not being used as a projectile, Harajuku has had something of a breakout year in 2024 by reaching the final of the Max Heart Tournament with Max and also winning her first ever championship during a tour of Thailand. Even without Max, Harajuku can be a lot to handle by herself and that’s just from the screaming.
Moves To Watch Out For: Pom de Justice (Step-Up Guillotine Leg Drop), Laforet Harajuku (Satellite Headscissors), Shin Kick, Denden Taiko (beating the opponent’s chest like a drum)

4. TNA World Knockouts Title: Masha Slamovich (c) Vs Miu Watanabe

EDIT: It has since been announced that the match will be for the TNA World Knockouts Title.

This has the makings of a show-stealer. These are two wrestlers who went through breakout years in 2024 set to clash against each other. Masha Slamovich has become a top tier talent in both TNA and GCW while Miu Watanabe finally reached the summit of TJPW after fans waited so long to see her get up there. Now that her run as champion has ended for now she is getting put in the ring against the best female stars from around the world that TJPW can find (and haven’t been locked down by exclusive contracts).

Masha Slamovich – Maybe the toughest girl going in wrestling today. She is currently the TNA Knockouts Champion, was the only woman to ever hold the GCW World Title and has also become unstoppable in Jersey Championship Wrestling as their champion. TJPW is a corner of the world that’s given her a challenge though. She’s fought for championships here before and come out of them empty handed. When it comes to the promotion bringing in guests, she has become one of the highest walls for even TJPW’s most accomplished wrestlers to try and climb over. This match here is another example of that.
Moves To Watch Out For: White Knight Driver/From Russia With Love (Half Package Piledriver), Snow Plow/Russian Death Device (Northern Lights Bomb), Liger Bomb, Shining Wizard

Miu Watanabe – The third and last Up Up Card on the show, Miu Watanabe has two things she loves most in life: Idols and Pro Wrestling! She is also the strongest and most successful of the lot when it comes to what happens inside the ring. She is the second Grand Slam champion so you can say she’s almost done it all in TJPW yet she still has the whole world at her feet. Always full of energy, Watanabe uses big hand gestures to spell out L-O-V-E along with her theme song during her entrances. She also knows various ways to throw people around with the Giant Swing and cave some chests in with Double Sledge strikes.
Moves To Watch Out For: Tear Drop (Modified Flapjack), Reverse Paradox (Gorilla Clutch), Laserbeam (Overhand Chop to the chest), Giant Swing, Canadian Backbreaker, Swinging Backbreaker

5. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Jada Stone

Let’s head into the championship bouts. The International Princess Title is TJPW’s midcard title that is meant to be built around international competition. That’s not always the case but here it fits the bill. Suzume has been on a run with the belt since winning it from Yuki Arai and an overseas title defence is currently missing from this résumé. Jada Stone has challenged Suzume for the title once before but couldn’t get the job done. She is getting a rematch and should theoretically have the home field advantage this time.

Suzume – As sharp and swift as a wasp, Suzume is the Daisy half of Daisy Monkey. She begun her career as a fast learner, only spending seven months in training before making her pro debut. Just based on her aesthetic alone it is of no surprise that speed is the name of her game. It’s served her well because she became the International Princess Champion at the start of the year and has held onto it ever since. She also already has a successful title defence against her opponent here.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ring A Bell (RKO), Spring Ring A Bell (Oscutter), Mikazuki Meteor Shower (Diving Cross Body), Twinkle (Twisting School Boy), Flying Facecrusher

Jada Stone – “The Spark” caused a bit of a stir in Deadlock Pro last September. With only two years of experience at the time, she won a dark match to enter the Battle Of The Best tournament as a last minute stand in. She then wrestled a second match on the night losing to Shoko Nakajima in the tournament but her performances that evening won over a lot of people. Word went back to TJPW and they brought her in for tours this year that included an IP Title shot. Again she lost the match but TJPW liked what they saw between her and Suzume so much that they decided to run it back in Vegas.
Moves To Watch Out For: Spark Stunner (Backflip into a Stone Cold Stunner), Moonsault, Meteora, Sliding Lariat

6. Princess Tag Team Titles: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao (c) Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara

Next up the Princess Tag Team Titles are on the line. Kyoraku Kyomei is what happens when Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao decided to become a fun loving tag team living to their fullest during the pandemic because neither of them knew what tomorrow would bring. They are one of the longest serving active tag teams in TJPW but only just recently won the tag titles for the first time together. This is going to be their first defence. Their opponents are a newly put together team called Ober Eats. If you ask Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara where they got the name from they might say it’s because Uehara likes to over eat. Or they might come up with something else because really they just needed to think up a team name on short notice in order to get Kyoraku Kyomei to accept their challenge.

Shoko Nakajima – Meet the Big Kaiju, all 147cm of her! Shoko Nakajima has pretty much done it all in TJPW as one of the promotion’s longest serving wrestlers. Usually relying on quick reflexes, she also has the strength to put away opponents with the Northern Lights Suplex. The Diving Senton she uses is nothing to sneeze at either. When put in Hardcore Match situations her favourite weapon is a pile of kaiju toys that she slams her opponents onto. She’s a Swiss Army Knife that can adapt to any kind of situation wrestling can throw at her. She also very recently won the MLW Women’s World Featherweight Title.
Moves To Watch Out For: Northern Lights Suplex, Diving Senton, Unmanned Local Train Hold (Yurikamome submission hold), 619, Rider Kick (One-Legged Dropkick)

Hyper Misao – When love and peace is under threat in TJPW, you can always rely on Hyper Misao to come to the rescue. Just be aware that her plans to save the world are never as heroic as they’re meant to be. She often gets on the microphone to greet everyone with “Hello big children” before explaining her plan to save the day. Of course by being a superhero that means she has her own Hyper Mobile. She likes to crash it into her opponents along with any unfortunate bystander who happens to be nearby. She also blinds opponents with her Hero Correction Spray. Deep down inside Misao is a multi-layered human being with infinite potential that if harvested correctly could make her a very powerful wrestler. But why go through all that baggage when you can just wear a cool mask and cheat like hell instead?
Moves To Watch Out For: Hypami Returns (Final Cut), I Am A Hero (Diving Cross Body), Crossface Chickenwing, Vanitas (Double Arm Facebuster), Cold Spray Attack

Yuki Kamifuku – Also known by her nickname Kamiyu, she is “The Casual Beauty” of TJPW. Grew up in Ohio during her junior high school years so she knows the most English out of the bunch. She knows how to get under her opponent’s skin with harsh and catty opinions but there is another side to her where she is loyal and sympathetic to her friends. She is also proud of her modelling background because her accomplishments in the ring is proof you do not need to be a die hard pro wrestling fan to succeed in the business. Over the last two years she has emerged as the most dominant woman in the Southeast Asian wrestling scene where she currently holds both the Queen Of Asia Title from Singapore and the VPW Women’s Title from Vietnam. The two belts together can be referred to as the Double Asian Crown. If she can win the Tag Titles here she’ll have something in her wardrobe to match with the belt for sure.
Moves To Watch Out For: Famouser (Jumping Leg Drop to a bent over opponent), Big Boot, Yahoo 83cm (Headscissors DDT), Manjigatame, Thumb To The Eye

Wakana Uehara – “WAKANAAAAAA!” One of the emerging stars climbing up the ranks is popular with fans because of her noticeably big… appetite. Wakana Uehara entered wrestling through a reality series TJPW held for idols called Yume Pro Wrestling -dream on the ring- and was the sole person who stayed on to turn pro. She made her mark by winning the first Next Generation Tournament in 2023, hit a road block in 2024 and this year ended up attaching herself to Kamifuku as a tag team to jump start her momentum again. This will be her first ever chance at winning a championship. One can only imagine the victory meal she’ll have in Vegas to celebrate!
Moves To Watch Out For: Banana Pillow (Triangle Lancer), Sleeper Hold, Space Rolling Elbow, High Speed Brainbuster

7. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita

To put it simply, the main event is TJPW’s two strongest wrestlers against each other. This is going to be one of the biggest matches the company will book this year anywhere in the world. Only a select few have held the Princess Of Princess Title in the championship’s nine years of existence. Mizuki is currently on her second reign and only wants to defend it against the best to ensure she is a stronger champion now than she was the first time back in 2023. That means defending the belt against the one woman she has yet to beat one on one, the ace of TJPW Miyu Yamashita! Already a four time Princess Champion, Yamashita is using this show to kick off her latest American excursion that will last up until the summer. There’s no bad intentions behind the decision but if she wins the title again then that means TJPW will be without their main championship for several months. The only times Mizuki has gotten the better of Yamashita has been in tag matches but when it comes to singles clashes, it’s been Yamashita on top every time. Will this finally be the day when the strongest princess slays the strongest monster?

Mizuki – “The Popping Sugar Rabbit” did not start her wrestling career in TJPW but she has established herself as one of the company’s all time best with multiple championship reigns and big show main events to her name. One of the most photogenic wrestlers going today. She constantly goes viral on social media for using moves that leave those who see them locked in a state of inspiration and amazement. She doesn’t understand what U3+4 means but she is the closest pro wrestling will ever get to creating a real life Lili from Tekken. Now a two-time Princess Champion she wants to fight the best so she herself can get even stronger. Don’t trust that mischievous smile of hers, she is vicious when she wants to be. “The Popping Sugar Rabbit” may sound like a silly nickname but we’ll see who’s laughing when Mizuki is Double Stomping the guts out of her opponent.
Moves To Watch Out For: Cutie Special (Bridging Fall Away Slam), Whirling Candy (Spinning Cross Body Block), Diving Foot Stomp, Face Lock

Miyu Yamashita – “The Pink Striker” has been part of TJPW since Day 1 of the company proper and is never far away from winning one of their championships. She is such a major part of the company that her dominance has long become a big fish in a small pond scenario. The Skull Kick she uses is one of the most deadliest looking finishers around. In recent years she has taken time away from TJPW to wrestle across America and Europe. That trend continues because after this show takes place Yamashita will begin a fresh stay in America that will last from April until July.
Moves To Watch Out For: Skull Kick (Backspin High Kick to the head), Crash Rabbit Heat (Running Knee Kick), Attitude Adjustment, Return Crash (Triangle Kick off the turnbuckles)

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DDT/TOKYO JOSHI PRO/GCW “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW”, 19/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Mizuki, Hyper Misao, Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku Vs Miu Watanabe, Suzume, Arisu Endo, Yuki Arai & Shino Suzuki
2. Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara Vs Brooke Havok & Sandra Moone
3. Rika Tatsumi & Antonio Honda Vs Kidd Bandit & Shota
4. 3 Way Match: MAO & Yoshihiko Vs Jimmy Lloyd & Alec Price Vs Jack Cartwheel & Kazuma Sumi
5. Special Tag Match: 1 Called Manders & Maki Itoh Vs Yukio Naya & Microman
6. Special Tag Match: Mance Warner & Shunma Katsumata Vs John Wayne Murdoch & Matt Tremont
7. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki, Ilusion & Dark Sheik Vs Super Crazy, Marcus Mathers & Shoko Nakajima
8. Special Tag Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Masha Slamovich Vs Shinya Aoki & Miyu Yamashita

Welcome to this year’s edition of “Real Matches Or My Fire Pro Save?” This is a mental set of matches booked so far and there’s still like a third of the card still to be put together. GCW did an admirable job last year of finding women on their shows to match up against TJPW. They don’t have to worry about being strict this time around so maybe we get something like Pom Harajuku interacting with Effy or maybe Max The Impaler gets to kidnap Yuni? At least all parties involved can honestly say they came up with a show that is absolutely unlike anything else going on this week.

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But wait. There’s more! A few TJPW wrestlers are taking bookings on other shows happening through the week.

PANDEMONIUM PRO “THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS”, 17/04/2025
Fremont Country Club, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Maya World Vs Miu Watanabe

It all starts with Watanabe taking a rare outside booking with Pandemonium Pro a few days before the TJPW show. Maya World is one of the many talents looking to grab attention for themselves and beating a former Princess Champion would do just that.

WRESTLECON “MARK HITCHCOCK MEMORIAL SUPERSHOW”, 17/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Mickie James Vs Maki Itoh

In one corner stands a wrestling idol with grand ambitions of becoming a popstar who was unceremoniously fired in a humiliating fashion in the past. In the other corner is Maki Itoh. Also if any British fans start chanting “Hardcore Country” at Mickie James for literally the entire match you have my permission to throw a brick at them.

GCW “JOSH BARNETT’S BLOODSPORT XIII”, 17/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Nattie Neidhart Vs Miyu Yamashita

Unlikely friends fighting each other in an unlikely match up. The last time Yamashita entered GCW’s Bloodsport she lost to Shayna Baszler. She will face another WWE wrestler for her return but this one hits a little closer to home. A home away from home if you will. Whenever Yamashita does her excursions to America she often visits Natalya to train at her invite-only wrestling school. It was a given that someday the two would eventually fight each other. Nattie Neidhart has a chip on her shoulder because the expectations are always that she is expected to be a stepping stone for her opponents. Yamashita doesn’t want to be underestimated either. Get your $1 bets ready for this one.

WRESTLECORE “FEAR & WRESTLECORE IN LAS VEGAS”, 18/04/2025
Swan Dive, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. ELP Vs Maki Itoh

Oh what could have been. In the lead up to this week El Phantasmo was sending messages to Itoh asking if they could team up together as The World’s Cutest Tag Team. Plans didn’t go the way they were intended so now the two of them are at each other’s throats! Only a match against each other on the WrestleCore show will solve this problem.

GCW “CLUSTERF*CK FOREVER”, 19/04/2025
Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

1. Clusterfuck Match: X Vs X

Maybe Itoh or Yamashita shows up in the Clusterfuck? What about Raku? No wait she’ll be sleeping through it. Throw Shino Suzuki in there.

Press Conference For Judgement 2025

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2025 ~28TH ANNIVERSARY 5 HOUR SPECIAL~”, 20/03/2025
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. 57th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Decision Match – Kazusada Higuchi & Shunma Katsumata Double Return Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida Vs Shunma Katsumata, Yuni & Kazuma Sumi
2. 3 Way Match: Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda Vs Kazuki Hirata
3. Special Tag Match: MJ Paul & Ilusion Vs JJ Furno & Tomomitsu Matsunaga
4. Makoto Oishi, Akito & Soma Takao Vs Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Keigo Nakamura
5. Special Tag Match: Jun Akiyama & Daichi Sato Vs HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada
6. DDT Extreme Title – Loser Joins Match: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Super Sasadango Machine
*Special Referee: Amon Tsurumi
7. Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs KANON
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & To-y (c) Vs Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura
9. DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Minoru Suzuki
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) Vs Masahiro Takanashi

This week DDT held a press conference at Ota Ward Industrial Plaza to promote some of the top matches happening at “JUDGEMENT 2025” this Thursday. The four title matches for the show all went through public signing ceremonies. Masahiro Takanashi admitted he was feeling overwhelmed and out of place to be in the main event KO-D Openweight Title match. He has been a part of DDT for 22 years and the early days left a strong impression with him. He thinks DDT was able to grow thanks to all the hard work of the people in the company. Chris Brookes picked him to be his opponent because he wanted to fight him. He understands it was not done out of kindness and if he loses the match he will have to take some time to think about himself. On 20th March Takanashi wants to prove he is still alive in DDT. Brookes said he has watched Takanashi fought in championship matches for other promotions and wanted to fight him in a similar way. He wants to see Takanashi shine in Korakuen Hall and not be held back by his past. That is how SCHADENFREUDE International will build an even brighter future for DDT.

At first Minoru Suzuki was unusually straight to the point with his comments. He simply said he would do his best for the DDT Universal Title match. Yuki Ueno said if he can fight Suzuki to his heart’s content it will fulfill all of his desires as the champion and then some. Suzuki then spoke up and asked Ueno if he is hiding something because he doesn’t think Ueno said everything he wanted to say. They will go all out in the ring to destroy Korakuen Hall and everything in it. Suzuki expects himself to win the match and become champion but that is not why he wants to fight Ueno. He is shocked to find out just how interesting a wrestler Ueno is and wants him to show all of his crazy side. Ueno didn’t agree and started arguing with him over who is crazy.

The rules for the DDT Extreme Title match were revealed at the press conference. Danshoku Dieno thought long and hard about the rules and decided the loser must join DDT! Super Sasadango Machine’s current deal with the company is a loose affiliation that makes him more like a freelancer than a company employee. If he loses this match he must go wrestle in more matches, go on more tours and give DDT a cut of his payments from other entertainment activities! Dieno is already part of the DDT roster so he decided if he loses then his pet dog Haku must become a full time member of the roster. Other than that the match will be held under normal wrestling rules. Sasadango doesn’t like that idea either because he’ll have no chance of winning that way!

The contract signing for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles match began with NωA Jr. performing their song for everybody before talking about how excited they are for the match. Kazuma Sumi & Yuni have been waiting for Shunma Katsumata to recover from his injury so the idol unit would be complete again. Sumi said he will use the best version of his School Boy to win the match, Yuni wants to win the titles on his path to ultimately becoming the KO-D Champion and Katsumata thinks the belts suit them better than they suit Harimao. However they agree they will need to work together to win. Kazusada Higuchi promised to fight to the best of his ability in order to survive, Ryota Nakatsu wants to push out as strong as he can to celebrate Higuchi’s return and Yuki Ishida said he will overwhelm the idols with his masculinity.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’25” Preview

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’25”, 16/03/2025
Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

1. Yoshiko Hasegawa & Mifu Ashida Vs HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki
2. Kakeru Sekiguchi, Mahiro Kiryu, Haruna Neko & Ivy Steele Vs Kaya Toribami, Kira Summer, Chika Nanase & Uta Takami
3. Max The Impaler Vs Moka Miyamoto
4. Aja Kong, Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara Vs Yuki Aino, Haru Kazashiro & Toga
5. SETUP All Asia Women’s Title: Pom Harajuku (c) Vs Raku
6. Special Single Match: Willow Nightingale Vs Miu Watanabe
7. Special Single Match: Meiko Satomura Vs Yuki Arai
8. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Arisu Endo
9. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao
10. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi

Spring has arrived and with that comes the first big arena show for Tokyo Joshi Pro in 2025. This year TJPW has booked the refurbished Ota Ward Gymnasium as their residency for their three biggest shows in Japan this year: “GRAND PRINCESS ’25” this weekend, “SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’25” in July and “WRESTLE PRINCESS VI” in September. Let’s stick to the short term because not only is this Sunday’s show pretty important by itself, according to TJPW’s English tweets it will play a big part into deciding the championship matches for their trip to Las Vegas next month. All three TJPW championships are on the line here along with a fourth title from the outside. There’s also a few guests here and there to liven up the undercard as it all builds up to a main event that will be more “Wrestle And Romance” than anything Genichiro Tenryu ever came up with.

1. Yoshiko Hasegawa & Mifu Ashida Vs HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki

The show starts off with the two latest additions to the TJPW roster teaming together. Yoshiko Hasegawa became a regular part of the company last September, sort of filling in the spot on the card left by Nao Kakuta (but not nearly getting as many wins). Her partner here only just joined TJPW at the start of the year catching eyes with her cheerleading entrances. Mifu Ashida hasn’t looked bad in her matches so far but her goal of reaching the top of the company within a year is not going to happen. She’s already been humbled for that so the next step is to see how she will adapt from that.

At the end of last year both HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki had found themselves being overtaken by other wrestlers in their class and needing to catch up. They were both eliminated in the 1st Round of the 2024 Next Generation Tournament. This year they’ve been helping each other turn their fortunes around and it led them to the semi-finals of the Max Heart Tournament. They seem to have a good thing going on and a win here will help their momentum. Getting themselves a team name wouldn’t hurt either.

2. Kakeru Sekiguchi, Mahiro Kiryu, Haruna Neko & Ivy Steele Vs Kaya Toribami, Kira Summer, Chika Nanase & Uta Takami

What can I write about this match when there is not a lot to write about? Has Kakeru Sekiguchi made enough appearances by now for the TJPW roster to tell her apart from Mahiro Kiryu? Surely Haruna Neko will be able to see the difference given that she’s been teaming with Kiryu a lot lately. Ivy Steele has been fitting in and getting matches with a variety of wrestlers up and down the card. Kaya Toribami has usually been on the winning side of the multi-woman tag matches on this level lately. Kira Summer has been the opposite. Chika Nanase exists and Uta Takami added an actually pretty sick looking Cobra Clutch move that she has named the Koala Clutch. So yeah, the result here is going to be a coin flip of a match.

3. Max The Impaler Vs Moka Miyamoto

Well it’s been nice knowing Moka Miyamoto. Her two highlights of 2025 so far are teaming with Yuka Sakazaki on 4th January and getting to wrestle in Chile. The third will be the moment when she attempts the Zero Fighter Kick and bounces off of Max The Impaler like a tennis ball hitting a wall. Most of Max’s appearances in TJPW so far this year was in the Max Heart Tournament where Pompaler made it all the way to the finals before losing. Since then Max has been away from their usual partner rampaging through the company like only they can. Where Max goes from here will be up to them unless the karate skills of Miyamoto can cut The Impaler down to size.

4. Aja Kong, Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara Vs Yuki Aino, Haru Kazashiro & Toga

Can I get away with calling Aja Kong everyone’s favorite aunt in TJPW because that’s what it feels like whenever she shows up. There are still wrestlers here who want to step up to her and end up getting quite shaken after taking a Back Drop, Diving Elbow Drop or Uraken. But there are also plenty of on the roster who have become reliable partners for her. Yuki Kamifuku is a prime example. She continues to rule over Southeast Asia with the Double Asian Crown in her possession. Every time she gets in the ring she’s the most confident she’s ever been. Wakana Uehara seems to have earned Kong’s respect too going back to their singles match from January 2024.

If the opposing team have anything to their name it’s a lot of guts. Yuki Aino is back to floating aimlessly around the card but when you give her an opportunity to be stubborn in the ring she’ll take it. Haru Kazashiro has improved dramatically over the past year and earned her victory at the Next Generation Tournament. She still has a long way to go but I’m not going to argue anyone calling her the top prospect from TJPW’s new generation. Toga is not that far behind her and there is a good chase to be had with them as both tag team partners and opponents. But they should worry about dealing with Auntie Kong first.

5. SETUP All Asia Women’s Title: Pom Harajuku (c) Vs Raku

Hands up if you ever thought we’d see the day when Raku and Pom Harajuku are booked in a genuine championship match against each other and not one for a comedy belt. Put it down, I know you’re lying. Alright, alright I take that back. This pair genuinely do have it in them to get an audience emotionally invested in a match like this. Harajuku became one of the most unlikeliest champions in TJPW history when she travelled to Thailand last November and won the SETUP All Asia Women’s Title from Matcha in a No DQ Match! With that success came the champion’s boost that saw Harajuku winning more matches in TJPW and even go on a Max Heart Tournament run that took her all the way to the final. It’s been a wonderful story to follow but it led our champion into a match she didn’t want to happen.

It took Harajuku more than one time to beat Matcha for the SETUP Women’s Title. There was a previous attempt in September 2024 when Harajuku and Matcha fought in a 3 Way Match for the title with Raku as the third person. Matcha pinned Raku to win the match and retain the title that night and the result has stayed in Raku’s thoughts ever since. So when Harajuku brought the championship to Japan and was able to keep hold of it for a few months (not just figuratively because she literally dropped the belt that one time), Raku made the challenge for a title shot. Harajuku refused until Raku explained it’s because she loves her. Let me tell you if I had a nickel for every title match on this show that is built around love, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happening twice.

6. Special Single Match: Willow Nightingale Vs Miu Watanabe

It was this month last year when Miu Watanabe climbed to the top of the TJPW mountain at the 2024 edition of this show. Her run on top lasted for the rest of the year and while it is over for now, she still has some tasty looking matches on the horizon. Like this one for example. TJPW originally wanted to do a Watanabe versus Willow Nightingale match back in the summer of 2022 but visa problems on Nightingale’s end prevented her from travelling to Japan. She eventually got to go on a Japan tour with TJPW later in the year and be in the ring with Watanabe but that singles match still never occured. So what a delight it was last month to see a video from Nightingale announcing she is coming back to finally make the match happen! Smiles are guaranteed and so too will there be power spots galore.

7. Special Single Match: Meiko Satomura Vs Yuki Arai

You know, it’s funny. Imagine a world where TJPW somehow exists exactly as it does now but without Miyu Yamashita ever existing. In that alternate universe we probably get Meiko Satomura looking like a ray of sunshine every time she appears because she seems to see the positives in every other wrestler in the company except for Yamashita. Satomura is just be over a month away from her pro wrestling retirement so unless we get an unexpected announcement it looks like Yuki Arai gets the honour of being her last ever opponent ever in a TJPW ring.

The match is the latest in the long line of signs that Arai has TJPW’s full backing behind her. She is also approaching the end of a career soon because she will be graduating from SKE48 at the end of March to put her full effort into pro wrestling. Just being in the ring with Satomura as part of the joshi legend’s retirement road is a vote of confidence in her favour. If she’s giving up her singing career to become the new leader of TJPW she knows she will have to shine bright against the yokozuna of joshi. Maybe she’ll level up so much that she can evolve her Finally finishing move and change it from the Heel Drop into the Scorpio Rising!

8. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Arisu Endo

The fated Daisy Monkey showdown! It’s a dream match Suzume wanted to make a reality from the moment she won the International Princess Title on 4th January. But first she had to get past Jada Stone for her February title defence. Good thing that Arisu Endo thought the same way and approached Suzume right after that match asking to be the next challenger. Suzume has the experience advantage, having beaten Endo in their three previous singles matches against each other. In fact one of those matches opened up “GRAND PRINCESS ’23” two years ago. Back then Suzume was concerned that Endo had caught up with and even surpassed her. Things are a bit different this time around.

While the two are the best of friends, Endo admits this match will be more like a sibling rivalry kicking off. Suzume is like a big sister and Endo wants the IP Title even more because her “big sister” currently has it!

9. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao

When 121000000 won the Princess Tag Team Titles for a second time they quickly agreed on their next goal as champions. If Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh cannot reach 10 successful title defences in a row then their accomplished tag team will split up. We’re now approaching the halfway point of the target. They have retained the belts four times already with successful defences in America and Chile along the way. They also have more overseas bookings coming on the horizon so there is plenty of opportunities ahead for them to reach that goal before we know it. There’s a big wall now standing in their way though. It’s a pair of wrestlers with chips on their shoulders for multiple reasons and 121000000 are partially responsible for it.

Kyoraku Kyomei have been together as a tag team for five years and spent most of that time as the bridesmaids of the tag division. It was a team put together when Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao wanted to cheer people up during the pandemic. When the pairing clicked better than expected, they started aiming for success only to fall short on every occasion. The failure that hurt them the most was in the 2023 Max Heart Tournament final when they lost to, you guessed it, 121000000. That loss in particular has stuck with Nakajima & Misao like a thorn in their hearts filling them with bitterness and resentment. So after they finally won the Max Heart Tournament this year (as the only remaining team to compete in all 5 tournaments), they could not be more fired up to get their rematch with Yamashita & Itoh. The champions welcome the challenge. They don’t even mind being compared to overpowered tournament level Pokémon (Yamashita only understood the reference once she saw that Ogerpon does kind of resemble her). Itoh in particular feeds off of that kind of loathing and jealousy towards other people.

If Kyoraku Kyomei can win the match and finally win the championship together, it could result in a massive change in direction for the Princess Tag Titles. Misao has put forward the idea of taking on brand new challengers in future title defences. She wants to fight teams that Kyoraku Kyomei have never faced before even if it means the challengers end up being pairs of wrestlers who don’t normally team with each other. Potential title matches might even get special rules attached to them because Misao has a habit of doing that for her normal matches. She promised management she won’t do that unless the situation calls for it but knowing her that may as well be every situation! Nakajima will be game for it either way.

10. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi

It has taken over seven years for this match to finally happen. I’d argue it is even the most protected match in TJPW history given what it means to the two people involved and their feelings towards each other. Let’s start on the surface. The Princess Of Princess Title is on the line. Mizuki is on her second reign as champion after proving that princess beat monsters and this is the first defence lined up for her. She has been the defending champion in Ota Ward before and came out on top so this is not an unusual experience for her. The challenger Rika Tatsumi is a former champion too but her sole Princess Title reign from 2021 was hobbled thanks to circumstances beyond her control. Her title matches were held in front of reduced Korakuen Hall crowds because of the pandemic and the reign met it’s inevitable end at the hands of Yamashita earlier than expected (and inside an empty venue to boot). At least Tatsumi was able to use those three months as champion to develop her personality more and get a little drunk with power like an immortal dragon should. I wouldn’t call it a wasted title run even if it doesn’t stand among the most memorable.

So what makes this matchup so important? Why did it take almost eight years for Mizuki and Tatsumi to have a singles match against each other? There’s more to this main event than just having a championship on the line. It is all about love. Back in 2018 TJPW still enforced the “Forbidden Three” rules to its in-house roster: no alcohol, no smoking and no boyfriends. Mizuki was approaching the end of her first year working with TJPW as a freelancer and in that time was already leaving strong impressions with different members of the roster. For Tatsumi those impressions were aiming straight for her heart. Spurred on by these developing feelings, Tatsumi confronted Sanshiro Takagi on a DDT edition of the ABEMA talk show “The NIGHT” and poked a pretty big hole in one of the Forbidden Three rules. She publicly admitted to having a crush on Mizuki but didn’t know if that is breaking the rule. Does no boyfriends allowed also mean no girlfriends are allowed too? Tatsumi received a lot of support from fans for calling out the outdated rules and from that point forward her crush on Mizuki became one of her biggest character quirks.

Mizuki’s opinion on the matter was usually kept to herself. It wasn’t long after this when Mizuki formed The Magical Sugar Rabbits with Yuka Sakazaki and became wrestling soulmates with her instead. Every once in a while Tatsumi would show her appreciation for Mizuki whether it was by wanting them to work together despite being on opposite teams or by winning a prize and handing it straight over to her as a gift. It was only in the recent buildup to this match that Mizuki revealed she still has posession of the first love letter Tatsumi ever gave her. It shows that she at least understands and appreciates Tatsumi’s feelings towards her. The reason she kept her distance from Tatsumi for all of these years was over concern that Tatsumi would start to dislike her if they ever did become close.

So now we go back to the Princess Title, the one object that can potentially turn this love story into a tragedy. Tatsumi still regrets how short lived her first title reign went. She has worked hard and achieved other accomplishments since then but feels the rewards were never enough for the challenges she had to get through. She thinks she will have to become ruthless like a dragon to become the Princess Champion again even if that means Mizuki will end up hating her. Mizuki is also willing to risk losing this special bond with Tatsumi if it means she will defend the Princess Title she worked so hard to reclaim. She is certain the two of them will shine in the ring together. But a story like this usually ends up with somebody getting their heart broken.

Grand Princess ’25 Press Conference

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’25”, 16/03/2025
Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

1. Special Single Match: Willow Nightingale Vs Miu Watanabe
2. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Arisu Endo
3. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao
4. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi

We are one month ahead of Tokyo Joshi Pro’s return to Ota Ward Gymnasium so a press conference was held in Shibuya yesterday to promote the three championship matches happening at the show. Rika Tatsumi talked about how her feelings for Mizuki have transcended beyond love and romance. When Mizuki is happy, Tatsumi is happy too. However she always regrets how short lived her Princess Of Princess Title reign was in 2021. She’s fought through many challenges since then and feels she has never been rewarded for them. So she must become ruthless to become the Princess Champion again even if that ends up with Mizuki hating her.

Mizuki understands just how much Tatsumi likes her and to prove it she brought along an envelope. Inside it was the first love letter Tatsumi wrote for her all those years ago. She didn’t read it out loud because it is very long but it is full of Tatsumi writing wonderful things about her. Mizuki admits she often gets worried that if she gets close to Tatsumi then Tatsumi would start to dislike her. That’s why Mizuki tends to keep her distance from her. But with the title match coming up it makes their first time singles bout against each other even more special. She too is now prepared to fight for the championship at the risk of being hated by Tatsumi. The one thing she is sure of is they will shine together in the ring and do their best.

The two members of Daisy Monkey talked about how much they wanted to have a championship match against each other. Suzume knew the match could happen down the road when she won the International Princess Title and she was really happy to see Arisu Endo want it too. She doesn’t know what will happen after the match but she wants to find that out together with Endo. They’ve had three singles matches already in their career and Suzume won all of them. She said Endo is at her best no matter who her opponent is and she enjoys watching her go all out every time. Endo says she sees Suzume as an older sister and she wants the IP Title because her “sister” has it!

The Princess Tag Team Titles have been held by Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao before but never together. Their team Kyoraku Kyomei was formed for both of them to have fun to the fullest without regrets but Nakajima admits there is resentment and bitterness building up to the title match against 121000000. Those are the feelings motivating her to beat the champions and finally win the belts with Misao by her side. Misao does not believe their team will become worthless if they never win the tag titles. But she still feels a sting in her heart when she remembers losing to 121000000 at the 2023 Max Heart Tournament final. She admits the other team were the main characters back then. That means for this title match Kyoraku Kyomei will show everyone what it’s like when the underdog becomes the new hero!

Maki Itoh spoke about how confident she is coming off of a title defence in Chile. She gets that the challengers are on a roll but she does not want them to underestimate her & Miyu Yamashita because the champs are still in really good shape. If there is resentment, envy and jealousy coming their way then Itoh will throw all of it into the depths of despair once again! Yamashita watched Kyoraku Kyomei’s run through this year’s Max Heart Tournament and described their matches as a lot of fun when seeing them from the outside. She’s happy to know that 121000000 are a driving force for Kyoraku Kyomei even when they’re away wrestling somewhere else. Her bond with Itoh is getting stronger and there’s more places where they want to travel and team together. They’re also only reaching the halfway point of their 10 defence goal.

Nakajima talked about something that bothers her about 121000000. She compares them to overpowered Pokémon that dominate the competitive scene. Yamashita is Ogerpon when it wears the Hearthflame Mask while Itoh is Dragonite. Itoh likes the comparison because she loves Dragonite but Yamashita didn’t understand the references. She got it once Sayuri Namba showed her a picture of Ogerpon and agreed it looks strong. Itoh then compared the challengers to Geodude because they are rock hard. Nakajima wasn’t happy with that because Geodude is a weak Pokémon. But they can withstand one-hit kills and launch a dangerous counter attack which Nakajima admits is her team’s plan to win.

Misao changed the subject by saying if Kyoraku Kyomei win the titles they want to defend them against teams they’ve never fought before or teams made up of people who never worked with each other. They would also welcome any challenges from teams who can beat them in terms of creating fun. She does not intend to add special rules to their title defences because they don’t want to get complaints from management. But if a match calls for it then she might come up with special rules anyway.