HQaMkm boAAxBhF 1
|

JŌNETSU MAX Defend GHC Tag Belts, Zennichi Jr. Festival Rolls On | Puro Watch Guide

ByAndrew J.T. Gelinas
HQaMkm boAAxBhF 1

PRO WRESTLING NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH held two events this past weekend, with Sunday’s show carrying more significance. Kawasaki Summer Voyage 2026 took place in front of a reported 1,575 fans inside Culttz Kawasaki and featured the first GHC200 Championship match involving a reigning champion. The inaugural champion, HAYATA, defended against Katsumi Inahata, with the former five-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion defeating the young Inahata in 1:55 via a Sling Blade into a Single Leg Boston Crab. At 105 seconds, the match lasted just over half of the maximum time allowed for a GHC200 Championship bout.

In the show’s main event, Manabu Soya and Yuki Iino of JŌNETSU MAX successfully fended off the makeshift team of Kazuyuki Fujita and Yoshiki Inamura to retain the GHC Tag Team Championships. This marked Soya and Iino’s second successful defence of the titles.

The other major note from the show is that Hajime Ohara will be forced to miss the rest of the year and much of next year after announcing that he will undergo knee surgery.

ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING

All Japan continued its exciting Zennichi Jr. Festival with two shows this past week. Unfortunately, the biggest news from these events was that Rising HAYATO potentially wrestled most of his 21-minute main event against Seigo Tachibana while suffering from a concussion after hitting his head on a wicked-looking springboard moonsault. Due to the injury, HAYATO will be forced to miss the remainder of the tournament.

A couple of days after HAYATO’s tournament came to an end, AJPW descended upon Jibasan Kurume in Kurume, Japan, for the fifth show of the Zennichi tour. Seiki Yoshioka and Leon De Oro each picked up Block A victories over Yasutaka Yano and co-leader Seigo Tachibana, respectively, while Masaaki Mochizuki handed Yuya Aoki his first loss of the tournament. Dan Tamura then defeated former heavyweight Hokuto Omori in the main event.

All Japan will conclude the Zennichi Jr. Festival on Saturday, August 29, at the Ota Ward General Gymnasium. The event will also see the Saito Brothers defend the World Tag Team Championship against Odyssey and Xyon, while Kento Miyahara defends the Triple Crown Championship against Yuma Anzai.

Zennichi Jr. Festival Standings:

A Block:

  • MUSASHI – 5 points
  • Seigo Tachibana – 5 points
  • Seiki Yoshioka – 4 points
  • Rising HAYATO – 4 points (Withdrew due to injury)
  • Leon de Oro – 4 points
  • Yasutaka Yano – 4 points

B Block:

  • Masaaki Mochizuki- 7 points
  • Yuya Aoki – 6 points
  • Dan Tamura – 5 points
  • Hokuto Omori – 4 points
  • Naruki Doi – 2 points
  • Shota Kofuji – 0 points

DDT PRO WRESTLING

Six days after holding their biggest show of the year, Wrestle Peter Pan 2026, DDT held their After Peter Pan – Ryogoku After Party show inside Kanda Myojin Hall in Tokyo. The event featured two title matches, with one ending in a title change. Kazuma Sumi defeated Danshoku Dieno for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship with a schoolboy, becoming the legendary belt’s 1,901st holder.

In the main event of the evening, KANON, Viento Levante, and Yukio Naya of Strange Love Connection retained the KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championships against paleyouth’s Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada, and Yuya Koroku, the same trio they defeated to win the titles at Wrestle Peter Pan.

DDT will hold two shows over the coming week, but the big one is certainly Last Summer Standing -Summer’s Reckoning-. The event will stream live on Wrestle Universe on Saturday, August 29, and feature four title matches. Junta Miyawaki and Shinya Aoki will defend the KO-D Tag Team Championships against Jun Akiyama and Rukiya, while Shunma Katsumata will defend both his DDT Extreme Championship and, apparently, his newly won Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship against Kumadori. New DDT Universal Champion Ryusuke Taguchi will defend his title against Daisuke Sasaki, while MAO will make his first defence of the KO-D Openweight Championship against Daichi Satoh.

DRAGONGATE

Dragongate held four Rey de Parejas tournament shows over the past week, including a two-show day on Sunday. Perhaps the highest-profile contest of the week was a rematch of the highly acclaimed Open the Twin Gate Championship bout between JACKY KAMEI and Riiita of Love and Peace and KAGETORA and Susumu Yokosuka of PARADOX. Their match in April has been shortlisted by many fans as one of the matches of the year in DG so far. This rematch ended in a 20-minute draw, with both teams earning one point.

The most successful team in the ring this past week was Gajadokuro’s ISHIN and Yoshiki Kato. They defeated Genki Horiguchi and Yasushi Kanda to earn their first points on Saturday before following that up with another victory over LEONA and Strong Machine J on Sunday afternoon.

Rey de Parejas will roll on with another four shows next week. By the time you read next week’s Puro Watch Guide, the finalists will have been determined.

Rey de Parejas Standings:

A Block:

  • PARADOX (Kagetora & Susumu Yokosuka) – 5 points
  • Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) – 4 points
  • LEONA & Strong Machine J – 4 points
  • Love & Peace (JACKY KAMEI & Riiita) – 3 points
  • Genki Horiguchi & Yasushi Kanda – 2 points
  • Gianni Myon Myon Valletta & Hyo – 2 points

B Block:

  • El Cielo & Luis Mante – 6 points
  • XenisS (Kota Minoura & Yuki Yoshioka) – 6 points
  • Flamita & Sangre Azteca Jr. – 4 points
  • XENOSTAL NOVA (Homare & Kazuma Kimura) – 4 points
  • Natural Vibes (AKEY & GuC) – 2 points
  • Gajadokuro (Jason Lee & Madoka Kikuta) – 0 points

Other News and Notes

Tomoya Hirata defeated Violento Jack to win the King of FREEDOM World Championship on Thursday at FREEDOMS’ co-produced show with Jun Kasai. This marks Hirata’s second reign with the title, having previously held it in 2023. The show will premiere on Samurai TV on September 2.

Tochigi Pro Wrestling’s Shoki Kitamura ended Kosuke Sato’s reign as BJW Junior Heavyweight Champion midway through Big Japan’s Korakuen Hall show. This marks the first title win for the 29-year-old Kitamura since he captured ZERO1’s International Junior Heavyweight and World Junior Heavyweight Championships in 2020.

For coverage from across the Japanese professional wrestling scene, WrestlePurists will keep you updated.