[Spoilers] King of Pro-Wrestling 2025 (10/13) Results

Aaron Wolf is on ringside duty.

IWGP Women’s title: Syuri def Sareee^[c] — (14:56, Syu-sekai)

• This was pretty great and absolutely worth watching. If you’re not familiar, these are two heavily MMA-influenced wrestlers; think along the line of Shibata.

• Post match, after getting the belt out around her wait Syuri goes over and hugs Sareee, they bow to each other and shake hands.

• In her Backstage Comments, Syuri says she wants to wrestle in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th as IWGP Women’s Champ.

Clark Connors, Taiji Ishimori, David Finlay^[w/Gedo] def Titan, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi^{[w/Daiki Nagai]} — (7:58, Overkill)

• Pre-bell they do a dueling bark and “Oi” chant.

• Shingo and Finlay start.

• Very good for an inconsequential multi-man.

• Post match, they try to induct referee Sakamoto into War Dogs. Shingo and Hiromu come in to help Titan up and there’s some light shit-talking, but nothing major.

Riot in Ryogoku: Drilla Moloney def SANADA^{[Daft Punk version]} — (13:37, Drilla Killa)

• This is just a regular No DQ match with a fancy name.

• So Disco Ball SANADA comes out through the entrance gate, but when he gets to the ring and takes his sunglasses off, he looks a little… odd.

• Then the lights go out and Daft Punk SANADA appears in the crowd, guitar in hand. As he walks through the crowd he accidentally get someone’s plastic shopping bag stuck on his guitar and has to stop for a minute to get it off. Disco Ball SANADA has disappeared.

• Drilla’s in long tights and gloves for the street fight. He jumpstarts the match by leaping off the turnbuckle.

• Calibres: 44. Drilla introduced a fork, chair, and tables. He also continues to be a very obvious blader.

• HoT Shenanigans level: mild? It was a No DQ match, so within that context there was nothing crazy until the ref bump and interference.

• Eventually SANADA bumped the ref, then Drilla hit Drilla Killa but the ref couldn’t count it. Dick and Nobu came out and tried to steal it for SANADA, but Clark and Wheel-san came out to even the odds.

• Post match, Drilla stomps on the remnants of the guitar. Clark hypes him up, and Drilla does some fanservice as he leaves.

Hirooki Goto Return match: YOH, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto def Kosei Fujita, Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa — (7:55, GTR)

• Extended Goto theme, and the crowd starts chanting his name as it kicks into gear.

• YOH is wearing an E.Honda shirt. He and Fujita have a little face off as Goto poses on the turnbuckle.

• The crowd chants for Goto again so he decides to start. They tease Big Jag, which has been pushed as an unofficial E.Honda vs Zangief thing, but instead Oiwa elects to start. Another big 90-100% Goto chant as they do.

• This was fun. As you can see by the match result, we did eventually get Goto vs Hartley; and Big Jag and YOH played into the Street Fighter thing a bit.

• Post match, Goto briefly talks a little trash to Ryohei Oiwa on the apron.

They play a video announcing The New Beginning USA in Trenton, NJ on February 27th. TAKESHITA was featured in the video, as were Gabe, ELP, Ishii, and ZSJ. They did not use the STRONG branding in this, but IIRC that’s normal for a US show within the last couple years. The venue is a basketball arena, on the large end for a US show.

NJPW World TV title/ELP 20th Anniversary/Tana Final Road ~Connection~ match: El Phantasmo^{[c] [w/Jado]} vs Hiroshi Tanahashi — (Draw, 15:00)

• 83 days of Tana left. This is his last match in Sumo Hall.

• Pre-lockup crowd poll is at least 90% Tana. ELP offers a handshake but Tana respectfully declines.

• This was very good. They did do some comedy, mainly revolving around the air guitar, but it wasn’t obtrusive. ELP had Tana in the cloverleaf when time expired.

• Post match, Tana picks up the TV belt and hands it to ELP. They talk while pointing to the Lion Mark and each other, and then the crowd. Tana goes to leave, ELP starts bowing to him and Tana slides back in to bow in return.

• ELP goes to the outside and asks for his music to be cut, then they play Tana’s music. ELP tells Tana “one more time” and points to the ring.

• Tana goes back to briefly appeal to the crowd and hit a Go Ace pose.

• In the Backstage Comments, ELP and Tana declare they’ll enter World Tag League; which they were denied last year when ELP had to go get his bad nut removed. (Check your bits, whichever bits you have, cancer is no joke.)

NEVER Openweight title: EVIL^{[w/Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi, Don Fale]} def Boltin Oleg^[c] — (11:40, EVIL)

• ICYMI, EVIL has had physical possession of the NEVER belt for most of this tour.

• Once at ringside, Boltin takes his hat off and slides into the ring to attack, successfully taking out EVIL and very briefly taking possession of his belt.

• HoT Shenanigans level: moderate. Ring announcer spot, high level of goon interference, ref bump.

• Eventually Yano came out and rallied the YL to help him remove the House from ringside.

• Later in the match, SHO comes out but is thwarted by Boltin. Then DOUKI with the pipe, which is what makes the difference.

• Post match, the rest of the House (who were here) come out. They attack Boltin while EVIL gets a mic and denigrates him. Most of the YL try to save Boltin but are thwarted.

• Then Aaron Wolf comes in and cleans House. EVIL steps up to him and asks who Wolf thinks he’s messing with? EVIL will crush him. They start playing EVIL’s music again and he shoves Wolf, who continues staring HoT down but doesn’t make a move since he’s outnumbered.

• The Backstage Comments basically confirm EVIL vs Wolf at WK20. Presumably for the NEVER, but maybe they’ll make EVIL defend the title against someone else before that’s made official.

IWGP Tag titles: Knock Out Brothers (OSKAR, Yuto-Ice)^[c] def Yuya Uemura, Shota Umino — (15:40, K.O.B)

• They’ve made a lazy mash-up (playing clips of each one back-to-back) of Yuya and Shota’s themes, who come out together.

• Yuto accidentally bumped into OSKAR while doing their ring announcement taunt. His left arm is still (most likely kayfabe) taped up after Yuya targeted it during their preview singles (which you absolutely should watch if you haven’t).

• Ice/Yuya and OSKAR/Shota get forehead-to-forehead and then start throwing hands. Ice and Yuya stay in the ring as the bell rings.

• Bomboclaat level: 4.75

• Yeah so Ice vs Yuya is the future of this company (arguably moreso than what we’re about to see in the next match). That’s nothing against OSKAR and Shota, who also worked their butts off here, but HEAT and Ice are just on a completely other level.

• This is the first successful defense of the Tag titles in around a year.

• Post match, after celebrating Ice stands over Yuya to talk some additional shit; OSKAR does the same to Shota.

• As he’s leaving Yuto stops to stare down Tanahashi, on Japanese commentary. Our next big show is in Tana and Yuto’s hometown of Gifu; the coincidence that led to Ice becoming a wrestler.

• We see the YL help Yuya to the back. Shota disappeared while the camera wasn’t on him.

IWGP Global Heavyweight title: Yota Tsuji^{[w/Daiki Nagai]} def Gabe Kidd^[c] — (24:13, Boston Crab)

• Today is red Tsuji with black/gold leg tassels.

• Gabe crawling still does not work for me at all. No going out into the crowd, but he does stop to stare Tana down for a second.

• After the entrances they have a little staredown over the Lion Mark before separating to get ready.

• Quick start by both with a lockup.

• Off the top of my head I don’t know if this was my favorite Gabe vs Tsuji match, but I did like it better than at least one of the others and the finish was great. I do not want to see it again for at least 6 months, if not an entire year. The crowd was very into it, though.

• Post match, Tsuji celebrates and then gives the belt to Nagai and goes back to talk to the still-fallen Gabe. Tsuji —- him up and then they bow to each other on the Lion Mark. Tsuji offers the handshake, Gabe takes it and pulls him in for a hug, then raises his hand.

• Finlay, Gedo, Ishimori, K.O.B, Clark, and Drilla are here. They all enter the ring and surround Gabe. Then Hiromu, Titan, and Shingo come out and they plus Nagai enter the ring.

• It turns into a War Dogs/Unaffiliated face off, until Finlay offers a hand to Tsuji. Tsuji accepts it. All the rest of the Dogs and Unafilliated proceed to shake hands; except K.O.B. Gabe does step up to them, but they just kind of ignore them. Then Tsuji goes over and starts doing Yuto’s taunt; after a minute Ice starts doing it as well and they bro hug. I guess everyone’s friends now. (Chris Charlton hints this is probably not going to last, dude to Finlay and Gedo having egos.)

• War Dogs leave via their entrance gate while Unaffillated pose in the ring.

• Tsuji gets partway down the aisle then stops. He turns around and heads straight for the commentary table, holding the Global title right in Tana’s face. Then he offers a handshake, which Tana accepts. But we’ll see if this is for Gifu or if it’s The Match. ETA: Backstage Comments seems like it’s Gifu. ETA ETA: ToSpo has confirmed Gifu.

• During the Backstage Comments, Hiromu asks Gedo to be his tag partner for SJTL. This may or may not have been serious.

IWGP WHC: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA^{[w/Rocky Romero]} def Zack Sabre Jr.^{[c] [w/Kosei Fujita, Hartley Jackson, Ryohei} Oiwa] — (31:16, Wagamama)

• During his entrance, Chris Charlton seemingly tries to claim that TAKESHITA is not seen by American (read: AEW) fans as having “real strength” because he’s Japanese. This is laughably incorrect.

• The pre-lockup crowd poll sounds to me like at least 90% Zack.

• TAKESHITA did end up getting over with the crowd, though it seemed like maybe they weren’t completely on board with the possibility of him actually winning.

• This was excellent, as you’d expect. I will admit I was not paying complete attention so that I could control my nerves; I’ll definitely go back and re-watch it at some point, but that point may not be for a while.

• Post match, the respective seconds come in to ice their guy. Eventually TAKE gets up first to get his hand raised, while Zack leaves the ring. He gets polite applause and cheers, but they’re not particularly

• TAKE gets the mic. He tells Zack he’ll treat the belt he took from him with the importance it deserves.

• A crowd member heckles TAKE. In response some of the crowd starts chanting for him, some of the crowd starts booing.

• TAKE talks them to calm down, which gets a laugh. But the booing continues. TAKE says none of them have a right to complain, and it’s not just NJPW fans that are angry at what he’s just done, some of the wrestlers also are. So if you’re mad, if you have a complaint, say it to my face.

• Goto comes out. The crowd starts chanting for him.

• Goto says that TAKE knew he was coming, right? Next challenger is Goto. Will TAKE accept the challenge or no?

• TAKE says he never even considered Goto would come out to challenge. The crowd boos again. TAKE asks where the young NJPW talent is, why they’ve let the veteran come out and take this opportunity. But he will accept Goto’s challenge. And he’ll repay his debt from last year’s G1. TAKE won’t be wrapped up in Goto’s Revolution.

• They have a brief standoff, then Goto leaves. The crowd chants for him again and he stops to take it in.

• TAKE closes it out. He’s taken the title, what do the fans think? They’re booing? Sure, boo or cheer, do whatever. (The boos slightly outweigh the cheers.) If you cheered, you’re going to have a fun ride.

• As long as TAKE is WHC we’ll see the best fights, a world where pro-wrestling is everything. TAKE knows what it means to hold the IWGP title, and you can look forward to him proving that. That is the message FROM THE ALPHA.

• In his Backstage Comments, TAKESHITA says he wants to defend against Goto before the Tokyo Dome. So that’s probably for Gifu (the Tanahashi Homecoming show which is the replacement for Power Struggle this year).

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