By Oliver Taylor

All Japan Pro Wrestling

All Japan Pro Wrestling President Takeki Fukuda and Vice President Satoshi Igarashi announced the cancellation of the Champion Carnival tournament due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis at a press conference on April 2.

However, All Japan will still hold a live show with no fans in attendance tomorrow in Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. The card can be read here.

The company announced three new names set to compete at The Clash in Kobe on June 7, as former Wrestle-1 stars Ryota Hama, Andy Wu and Takanori Ito have been announced for the show.

Former three-time AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship holder Keiji Mutoh has also been confirmed for the event.

The Clash in Kobe will take place on June 7 in Kobe Sambo Hall at 4pm JST, 8am BST, 3am ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji successfully defended the GHC Tag Team Championships by defeating Diamante and Takashi Yoshida in the main event of Dragon Gate’s The Gate Of Passion 2020 show yesterday.

It was the team’s first successful defense since winning the championships on January 5 in Korakuen Hall.

The first night of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global Tag League took place today.

The results were:

Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue def. Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima

Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji def. Kaito Kiyomiya and Shuhei Taniguchi

Shockingly, 54-year-old Saito pinned reigning GHC Heavyweight champion Go Shiozaki.

The remaining schedule for the tournament is:

April 7

Daisuke Sekimoto and Yoshiki Inamura vs. Hideki Shrek Sekine and Takashi Sugiura

El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée vs. Kenoh and Masa Kitamiya

April 10

Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue vs. Daisuke Sekimoto and Yoshiki Inamura

Kenoh and Masa Kitamiya vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji

April 13

El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Shuhei Taniguchi

Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Hideki Shrek Sekine and Takashi Sugiura

April 14

Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue vs. Hideki Shrek Sekine and Takashi Sugiura

Daisuke Sekimoto and Yoshiki Inamura vs. Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima

El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and René Duprée vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji

DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling held a show in 2AW Square with no live fans in attendance yesterday.

The results were:

Konosuke Takeshita def. Jordan Heatley

Handicap match: Kazusada Higuchi def. Hideki Okatani and Keigo Nakamura

Akito, Shunma Katsumata and Yukio Naya def. Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie and Soma Takao

Syuri def. Saki Akai

Chris Brookes and Danshoku Dino vs. MAO and Mike Bailey – No Contest

DDT Extreme Division Championship match: Shinya Aoki (c) def. Makoto Oishi

KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match: El Lindaman, T-Hawk and Tetsuya Endo (c) def. HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura and Yuki Ueno

The DDT Extreme Division Championship match was held under NO MOVE, NO LIFE rules.

The rules, via @ddtpro_eng, are as follows:

– Switches between ‘move’ and ‘don’t move’ phases occur every minute

– Regular finishes apply, as well as the lost point rule

– Points are lost if a competitor moves during a ‘don’t move’ phase

– Losing three points equals an automatic loss

DDT EXTREME Championship Rules:



"NO MOVE, NO LIFE. Rules"



– 1 minute phases switch between MOVE and DON'T MOVE phases

– regular finishes and LOST POINT RULES

– Points are lost when you move during the DON'T MOVE phases; lose 3 points and you lose match#ddtpro #DDTUNIVERSE — DDT English Update (@ddtpro_eng) April 4, 2020

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate held its The Gate Of Passion 2020 show in Kobe Sambo Hall yesterday.

The results were:

Don Fujii, Gamma, Masato Yoshino and Ryo Saito def. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, Naruki Doi and Yasushi Kanda

Tag Team Match

Dragon Dia and Strong Machine J def. Ho Ho Lun and Jimmy

Susumu Yokosuka and Ultimo Dragon def. Kota Minoura and Kzy

BxB Hulk and Eita def. Punch Tominaga and YAMATO

Big R Shimizu, H.Y.O and Kaito Ishida vs. Jason Lee, Keisuke Okuda and Yosuke Santa Maria – No Contest

GHC Tag Team Championships: Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji (c) def. Diamante and Takashi Yoshida

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

With AJPW star Jake Lee’s victory over Yasufumi Nakanoue today, the semi-finals of the Strong Climb tournament have been set:

A Block winner Daichi Hashimoto (2-1-1 record) vs. B Block winner Daisuke Sekimoto (3-1-0 record)

C Block winner Quiet Storm (2-1-1 record) vs. D Block winner Jake Lee (3-1-0 record)

The semi-finals will take place on April 12.

Should Hashimoto defeat Sekimoto, it is possible he could defend the Strong World Heavyweight Championship in the tournament final. A similar situation occurred in 2018 when Hashimoto unsuccessfully put the championship on the line against Hideki Suzuki in the final.

If Hashimoto is unsuccessful, the tournament winner could potentially challenge for the championship at the Endless Survivor show in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium on May 5.

Thanks to @Hi5ame, @ddtpro_eng and @123_reddit for information used in this article.