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Triangle Derby Finals would be the closing event of the first ever Triangle Derby in Stardom's history and would also be the final major event before World Wonder Ring Stardom would move away from its traditional tour structure in favour of airing weekly episodes on the Forbidden Door Network. Not only would the tournament's winning team be crowned, but a number of other important matches would also be booked on the card. The two teams to make the final would be the trio of Maki Itoh, Rina Yamashita and Billie Starkz taking on the STARS combination of Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & SAKI. The six women had been the standout competitors in the Derby, with it being STARS who would pick up the victory and win the vacant Artist of Stardom Champions.
Toni Storm returned to Stardom on the 29th December 2022 at Dream Queendom 2 and the end of the show had confirmed she had signed a lucrative deal with World Wonder Ring Stardom and would have a face to face staredown with new World of Stardom Champion Giulia (who had only just won the best from her Syuri). Storm would make her intentions known that at the Triangle Derby Finals she would make her re-debut with the promotion as the first challenger for Giulia's belt.
In the main-event of the Triangle Derby Finals that fans would be treated to an epic contest between two woman would be of epic proportions, filled with near falls and hard hitting spots. However, Storm would look to end the contest with the Storm Zero. Rather than going for the cover straight away though, she would celebrate early and taunt the crowd only for Giulia to push up to her feet and nail Storm in the neck with a Leaping Running Knee Strike before taking hold of Toni and wiping her out with the Glorious Northern Lights Bomb to retain the World of Stardom Championship in her very first defence of the title. After the contest Giulia would offer Storm her hand, but the Kiwi would slap the hand away taking it as an insult before storming off to the back far from pleased with herself or the result.
When Asuka signed with Stardom for the first time in her career and shortly afterwards it was revealed that Kairi was returning to Stardom, many were hoping that The Kabuki Warriors would set Stardom alight and potentially become the greatest Goddess of Stardom Champions of all time. However, the pair took exception to each other almost as if they were getting in each other's way. Kairi would end up declaring herself the new SWA World Champion and would run an open door policy offering any international opponent a chance at her belt. And she would defend the title on multiple occasions. On the other side of the coin Asuka would legitimately win the Wonder of Stardom Championship by ending Tam Nakano's first reign. Asuka would go out of the way in declaring that she was the true second tier champion, and that Kairi was nothing more than a paper champion.
The two would have an ongoing rivalry, without ever actually facing other. However, at Triangle Derby Finals whilst Asuka would successfully defend the Wonder of Stardom belt against Deonna Purazzo. Kairi though, would fail when it truly mattered as she would end up getting beating by Jordynne Grace. In a frustrated and anger filled post-match promo, Kairi would declare that she was coming for Asuka and would do everything in her power to take the Wonder of Stardom Championship from her.
Syuri & Giulia had decided to reunite for The Triangle Derby and called in the service of Thunder Rosa to be their third in the tournament. The trio did not advance, but Syuri and Rosa went in Finals with a friendly rivalry and Rosa expressed her desire for her first singles match of her second run to be against someone she fully respected. The two women would feature in an excellent special singles match, but it would be former World of Stardom Champion Syuri who would claim the win. Rosa was left looking incredibly strong however, and certainly had stamped down her authority that the rest of the locker-room should treat her with respect or face the consequences of their disrespect.
Mei Seruga is be touted as the future of NEO Bishiki-gun, although her recent success at Dream Queendom 2 resulted her actually being the only member of the unit to be holding title gold. The Future of Stardom Champion has drawn a lot of attention on what is her first reign as a singles champion and after a half decent showing in the Triangle Derby she took on Giselle Shaw in her first defence of the belt and had a decent enough showing to successfully retain the belt. After the match she would joined in the ring by the rest of the unit (with Saki Akai and Hyper Misao having claimed a victory over Charlie Evans and Willow Nightingale earlier on in the night) with the unit's leader Akai taking the microphone. She would cut a promo making her intentions known that the group fully intended to become a driving force in 2023 and that the best way of doing that would to be remove another unit of the board. Permanently.
Stephanie Vaquer has been harassing Saki Kashima to the point of stalking ever since she debuted on Stardom a month ago and made her intentions clear. She was the Dark Angel who had one goal and that was to pick all the stars from the sky and crush them to dust and she intended to start this legacy by claiming the High Speed Championship for herself as the starting point of her dynasty of bring every single member of the STARS unit to their knees. Vaquer would stay true to her word and claim a dominant victory over Kashima in an exceptional performance to claim her first singles champion in Stardom having only been working for the Joshi promotion for less than thirty calendar days.
At Dream Queendom 2 Hikaru Shida and Mayu Yamashita successfully challenged and won the Goddess of Stardom Championship. After the match Shida would declare the pair as the 'Pink Samurais' and made their intentions known that they fully intended on becoming the most dominant tag team in Stardom's history by holding the titles for an entire calendar year and defending the betls against at Dream Queendom 3. Hikaru would recognize that three teams had accomplished this before, but why they would be different was because herself and Miyu intended on breaking the successful number of titles defenses too (the current record being 11 - held by Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani). The pair would defend the belts for the first time at the Triangle Derby Finals, and claiming a clean a fairly comprehensive victory over Tasha Steelz & Trish Adora.
In the other match of the show Cosmic Angels (Natsupoi & Saori Anou) and Hyper Misao would claim a six-man tag team victory over Kamille and the Rengade Twins in the contest that would open the show.
Reigning IWGP Women's Champion Mickie James would appear on Stardom for the first time in her career at the Triangle Derby Finals and reveal that she had signed a contract with Bushiroad meaning that she would appear on both New Japan and Stardom programs because she was a big star and therefore she was strictly about business. Mickie would talk about how there was now a separation between NJPW and NJPW Strong in the form of Ring of Honor, and that as the IWGP Women's Champion she had felt it was her duty to be the best champion and come over to Japan and would make the point that her and her husband (Nick Aldis) had both relocated in Japan and had aligned their goals for a successful future. James would confirm that she would make her first Japanese defence at Stardom All Star Grand Queendom on April 23rd and hoping that the management team were able to find a suitable opponent for her, in what would no doubt be the marquee match for the entire event.
All Elite Wrestling has got a solid track record of offering pre-show matches that actually give viewers an incentive to actually purchase the rest of the show (if they haven't already) and Revolution 2023 would offer a total of three matches during the Buy In. The first match would be a combination of tag team contes. The first was a 6-Woman tag match between Prominence (Hiragi Kurumi, Risa Sera & Suzu Suzuki) and The Baddies (Leila Grey, Kiera Hogan & Red Velvet). The contest would be the perfect opening, but the Joshi starts would prevail and claim their first victory at a PPV show since departing Japan and signing for AEW. The second match would also feature two teams that had previously been making a name for themselves in New Japan, with the United Empire pairing of Aaron Henare & The Great O-Khan picking up the win over Bishamon.
The final match of the Buy In would be a massive a six team #1 contender battle royale for the AEW World Trios Championship (featuring The Factory (Comoroto, Johnson, QT), Dark Order (Greyson, Reynolds, Silver), SAnitY (Dain, Wolfe, Young), Legion (Haskins, Rampage, Ridgeway), TenKojiGata and The Hurt Business (Alexander, Benjamin, MVP) with all member of a Trio needed to be tossed over the top rope to be eliminated. The match would end up being won by SAnitY with Eric Young eliminating Chris Ridgeway to earn a future at the belts who were currently being held by LAX (Homicide, Ortiz & Santana) although this could change by the end of the night.
The Foundation (Jonathan Gresham & Jay Lethal) have been the AEW World Tag Team Champions for months and have very much been fighting champions and been the a voice of wanting matches to be contested cleanly and with respect and continuing to promote their values of Pure Wrestling that was born when the group was working for Ring of Honor. At Revolution the champions would feature in a technical brilliant and complete above board match with DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa). Unfortunately for the champions, it would be the challengers who would claim title gold and end a memorable run. The contest would end with all four men shaking hands, and there very much being a strong level respect between all four men with all the dust having settled.
Since Hook departed AEW and joined Pro Wrestling NOAH, the FTW Championship was left vacant. That was until Taz presented Chris Hero with the FTW Championship and announced him as the man most suitable to carry on his legacy. Hero has taken on an array of challengers and proven himself a worthy hold. At Revolution an 8-Man Tag Team match was put together with #MEAT (Keith, Mack, Something, Wardlow) taking on Sweet'n'Sour Inc. (Edwards, Hero, Sydal) & Claudio Castagnoli with the stipulation that whoever scored the pinfall or submission would earn a future shot at Hero's title. The contest would end with Castagnoli and Hero working together (a throwback to the King of Wrestling) with the pair taking out Jake Something with K.R.S. O.N.E (Elevated flip into modified aided Michinoku Driver II) only for Hero stand back and allowing Castagnoli to claim the pinfall victory. The match would end with Eddie Edward and Matt Sydal looking on slightly confused, as Hero and Castagnoli would hug in the middle of the room and seeming to be reunited as a tag team despite the fact that Claudio was owed a shot at Hero's title strap.
Jeff Cobb has proven himself more than capable since he, O-Khan and Henare signed for AEW. Whilst Ospreay and Aussie Open signed for ROH: Strong. All the unit never officially split they have been spready thin. Nonetheless, that didn't stop Jeff Cobb in impressing himself as total athlete and winning the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. At Revolution though, it looked as if Cobb reign was over as his opponent Sheamus (who had recently joined AEW as a free agent) looked on course to claim the belt for himself when he laid out Cobb with the Brogue Kick. Too everyone shock though Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI would slide into the ring and proceed to attack Sheamus with the match ending via DQ. This wouldn't stop the Bishamon pair from grabbing hold of Sheamus and wiping him out with GYR.
With Cobb retaining the belt in a less than acceptable manner, Cobb would present both men with t-shirts and it would be confirmed that Bishamon were the newest members of the United Empire. With the belt in his hand Jeff Cobb would go further and declare himself as the group's new Emperor and claim that from this point onwards the three cowards that were working for Ring of Honour were not associated with the groups and if they were to cross paths in the future they would do so as enemies. That was unless they bowed at his feel and groveled for a second chance to join the United Empire.
The third Face of the Revolution Ladder match would prove to be just as exciting as the previous two, with all six men involved competing for a future shot at the TNT Championship that was currently in the possession by Matt Cardona. It would be Mike Bailey who would claim the victory over the likes of Andrade El Idolo, Dalton Castle, Steve Maclin, Vincent and Yuya Uemura. Matt Cardona would sit at the commentary table throughout and would offer praises to various members of the contest, although any positives he had used to describe Bailey would quickly turn into negatives as soon as Bailey had actually won the contest.
Tony Khan changed the eligibility criteria for the Trios Championship leading up to Revolution, stating that any combination of men or women could compete for the belts meaning that teams of just men, just women or any combination in-between for the belts with direct comparisons being made to what Lucha Underground had done with their Trios Championship before the company had folded. LAX (Homicide, Santana & Ortiz) would defend the belt against Best Friends (Taylor, Beretta and Statlander) in a showcase trios contest, but that would ultimately lead to LAX retaining the belts. After the match Homicide would cut a promo name dropping former members of LAX and describing them as discarded soldiers and would make a point that to be successful in wrestling you had to treat it like a business and that it was certainly not the time for friendships and BFFs.
Two different feuds were combined for the first ever intergender Blood & Guts match at Revolution. One hand a rivalry had formed between FTR and War Machine, with the teams having two very different viewers of what makes a good tag team. One being precision and technical skill, whilst the other team felt that brute power and force was by far a more key component to being a successful team. The two teams had clashed in multiple matches, but after three previous attempts they had al been thrown out due to unsanctioned violence or because on one of the occasions double count out. It had seemed essential that the only way this rivalry would resolve itself, was if no rules were in place to prevent an overall winner from being found.
The other rivalry had former between Wasteland War Party (Heidi Howitzer & Max The Impaler) and MK Ultra (Killer Kelly & Masha Slamovich) with a point being raised by fans on social media that both teams were hungry for their own title gold, and without any exclusive to the women on AEW they frustration had spilled over into a hatred and contempt for the other. An opportunity would be spotted and for one night only Wasteland War Machine Party (Hanson, Howitzer, Impaler, Rowe) would take on FTRMK Ultra (Cash, Dax, Kelly & Masha) in a Blood & Guts match. The match would be bloody and violent and would end with FTR laying out Howitzer with the Big Rig on a canvass covered in thumbtacks and shattered glass before Dax would lock Heidi in the Inverted Figure Four and force her to tap out to win the contest.
The value and prestige of the TBS Championship has raised ever since the belt was won by Utami Hayashishita on her AEW debut in Fall of 2022 and would result in Hayashishita reuniting Queen's Quest with AZM and Saya Kamitani jumping ship and leaving Stardom in favour of All Elite Wrestling. Utami would further the envelope and would add Prominence (Hiragi Kurumi, Risa Sera & Suzu Suzuki) to QQ as a sub-unit making it known that she fully intended on creating the strongest Joshi unit to ever be based in America. Challengers would come in thick and fast, but no one would come close to taking the belt from Hayashishita. So much so that bigger names were starting to pay attention to the belt, and some fans would refer to it as the 'real Women's Champion'. At Revolution an epic Fatal 4-Way would be booked with Britt Baker, Sonya Deville and Bayley all challenger for the belt and it would be a real proving point that Hayashishita was more than capable of being a top star in the U.S. as she would successfully retain the belt and prove to be massively over with the fans for the reaction she would be greeted with as she celebrated the biggest victory as a member of All Elite Wrestling.
Prince Devitt (previously known as Finn Balor during his long tenure with the WWE) joined AEW in spring of 2022 and did so as the 'The Demon' a character he has not broken and has maintained and been constant since he was confirmed as being All Elite. At All Out, Devitt would go on to face Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship and win the belt. The two men would face again at Full Gear, but if Moxley lost he would be forced to leave AEW - which is exactly what would happen with Devitt retaining the belt and Moxley parting the company and heading off to Japan. Where it would emerge that he would be joined by Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to reform The Shield in Japan. 'The Demon' was proving to be one of the most feared men in AEW and was also being seen as a real threat to the WWE, as a misused talent that had been capable of so much more if they had been given the right chances. At Revolution 'The Demon' Devitt would successfully defend the belt against former champion Adam Page in a thirty minute Iron-Man match, at a score of 4-2. At the conclusion of the contest, the lights would go out. When they came on a debuting Randy Orton would be standing behind Devitt, and nail him with the RKO to seemingly create a potential epic feud and make Randy an official member of All Elite Wrestling.
Despite very much being a heel ever since being the muscle during Britt Baker's reign, Jamie Hayter has proven to be massively popular since becoming the AEW Women's Champion despite continuing to portray villainous tendencies with Baker providing backup and never looking spoil what has always been a good thing between the pair. After Sasha Banks joined the promotion, it was always locked in that she would very soon find herself challenging for the belt as it had no doubt been part of the bargaining power that had convinced her to sign with AEW rather than joining Impact Wrestling or returning to the WWE. And it didn't take long for a contract to be signed and a match between Banks and Hayter to be booked to face each other for the Women's World Championship at Revolution. However, Athena who had earned a shot and was the true number one contender would go on social media and threaten to leave the company if she wasn't given her rightful shot at the belt (it wasn't clear whether it was kayfabe or a shoot) but would throw fuel onto the fire and it would take much convincing for the match to be changed to a Triple Threat match and it would be confirmed that the match would main-event the show.
The match was filled with frustration. It was clear that Hayter and Banks felt that Athena was stepping on their toes and ruining their big match under the spotlight and were form an alliance at the start of the match to take Athena out and wipe her off the board, although this would prove to be nothing but an elaborate ploy as as soon as Hayter's back was turned Banks would ambush her and instead Athena and Banks would focus on beating down on the champion. Eventually the contest would turn into a back and forth contest worthy of it's main-event status and every time it looked like one of the women was going to win the third would interrupt the proceedings. The match looked won when Sasha would hit Hayter with Bankrupt (Straight-Jacket Neckbreaker), but as she would go for the pin Athena would charge forward and PK her in the face before dropping down on top of the Jamie to steal the victory and out of seemingly nowhere become the new AEW Women's World Champion. The fans weren't sure what too think, with Sasha Banks looking beyond furious as the announcements of a new champion were being made. It certainly wasn't the outcome that she had been expecting.
TJPW had really looked to invest in either bringing in units or creating new ones ahead of the start of their first episodic show 'Princess Party' that had been made possible by the Forbidden Door Alliance. A number of multi-man tag teams matches would take place during Grand Princess 2023. Rebel X Enemy and God's Eye would meet in a Six Man Tag Team match, with MIRAI pinning Maya Yukihi to give God's Eye the victory. In a larger match four members of Club Venus (May, Brookside, Xena & Kamea) would face off against the Up Up Girls and the RHR combination of Kay Lee Ray & Lita. The advantage throughout the match would seem to be with Club Venus, but Shino Suzuki would catch Jessie Kamea off-guard by locking in a Sleeperhold and forcing her to tap out before any of her unit members could save her from the submission hold.
There was a third match of a tag format that would prove to be incredibly spicy, because of what it means for the political landscape between the Joshi units. Oedo Tai had made it known that they very much intended to turn TJPW into their own personal playground and very much were looking to become the team that called the shots. Thekla, Mai Sakurai & Mei Seira who had formerly been part of Donna Del Mondo and were now referring to themselves as 'The Donnas' with Thekla seeming to be the voice of the group stated they were not interested in working for a new promotion, only to have to put up with Oedo Tai's nonsense but with a numbers disadvantage would look elsewhere for support. They would find allies of sorts in The Bullet Blondes (Penelope Ford & The Bunny) and a Ten Man Tag Team match would be booked. (A rumour would circulate with that with Maika being part of ROH and Giulia having remained with Stardom, 'The Donnas' were looking to potentially join Bullet Club Ark as its second official Joshi sub-unit. The match would prove to an entertaining contest, with the Bullet Blondes and The Donnas seeming to get on the same page which would lead to them claiming a victory over Oedo Tai. They wouldn't get to celebrate their win though, as Oedo Tai would be quick to swarm the ring after the fact wielding chairs and kendo sticks and beat the crap out of their opponents before acting as if they had been the team that had won the contest.
RHR (Red Head Redemption) are one of the newest units to have formed in Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and without any doubt none of these women would have likely joined the promotion if it wasn't for the cash injection it had benefitted from Wrestle Universe becoming one of the founding members of the Forbidden Door Network. With the star power of four women who had all recently been signed to the federation (Lita, Kay Lee Ray, Bea Priestley and Becky Lynch) it wasn't at all surprising that the quartet if redheads would be massively over and with a line of merchandise RHR were making money even without having to wrestle. A disagreement of who was the leader of the group would occur though. During one meet and greet session, Priestley would refer to herself as the leader of the group. However, Lynch would take exception to this and during a press conference would make a point that there was no leader of the group, but if there was it most certainly wouldn't be Priestley who was yet to prove herself at a major level. This would lead to a Special Singles match being booked between the pair, with the winner set to officially become the leader of the unit. Priestley and Lynch would feature in a great contest in the penultimate match of the Grand Princess event, with Lynch picking up the win. In defeat, Bea would be respectful and would shake hands with Lynch and seemed to accept the hierarchy that was now in place within the unit. The pair would be joined in the ring with KLR and Lita and there seemed a strong feeling of solidarity between all four women.
Yuki Aria had laid down an open challenge at Grand Princess and it would be Trinity who would answer the call and make her TJPW debut. The two women would feature in a great encounter, but after fifteen minute the bell would ring and the match would be declared a time limit draw. After the match Trinity would declare that she had always wanted to be a princess and that TJPW seemed the best place to do it and that perhaps if Yuki Aria was interested she would be her partner in the upcoming Max Heart Tournament. Arai would look unsure and see to not offer an answer, but offer a bow of respect before departing backstage.
With units and tag teams crowing the locker-room backstage it isn't at all surprising that additional space has been needed in more recent weeks as TPW approaches it coming to the Forbidden Door Table. The reigning Princess Tag Team Champions the Magical Sugar Rabbit (Suzuki and Yuka Sakazaki) have very found they have a target on their back with everyone vying for a shot at their titles. So much so that a massive number one contender's match was added to the Grand Princess card that would see Toyo Mates, Free WiFi and The IIconics compete in a fast paced and energetic three way match desperate to earn themselves a future shot at the straps. The match would be a spectacle with Hikari Noa winning the match for Free WiFi by nailing Jessie McKay with an exquisite Blizzard Suplex to earn a future shot at the belts.
The champs though were also handed a heavy task as their opponents were no slouches. Aoife Valkyrie & Taya Valkyrie better known as 'The Valkyries' who were present part of the Angels of Death unit alongside Tessa Blanchard and Unagi Sayaki had proven that for two women who were more known for their singles exploits were very much capable of competing at a level level as a pairing. The Magic Sugar Rabbit though would hold strong and go on to retain their belts much to the clear frustration of their challengers. Going into this new era of TJPW, it was evident that the tag division was going to draw a lot of attention.
When Club Venus jumped ship and signed for TJPW, Mina Shirakawa made a point that she intended for the unit to learn by her example and that she fully intended on becoming one of the biggest stars in the promotion. She would face the music that she had left Stardom with out winning the world title, but that she would accomplish her dreams and claim the Princess of Princess Championship when the opportunity was offered. These claims would garner the attention of the International Princess Champion Tessa Blanchard who had been in possession of the belt for half a year and dismissed Shirakawa as nothing more a pretty face that was not deserving of shot at important belts. She would joke that she would be able to defeat Mina in five minute flat. The five minute match would be booked, and it would end in a time limit draw.
Tequila Saya (Joshi Director) would proceed to book Shirakawa a shot at Blanchard's title at Grand Princess and it would be obviously that once again Tessa had underestimated her opponent and would be left stunning and sobbing after she would be nailed with the Glamorous Driver MINA and then pinned for the three count. After the match Mina would cut a promo stating that this was just the first step and she intended on following through with her plans of becoming a future Princess of Princess Champion and that her reign with this belt (the International Princess Championship) would leave the bookers no choice but to eventually give her a shot at the big belt.
When Miyu Yamashita departed TJPW, she did so as the reigning Princess of Princess Champion, which led to the titles being automatically vacated. A series of matches led to two women earning the right to challenger for the vacant title. On one side of the ring stood Unagi Sayaka. The assumed leaders of the Angels of Death, although no confirmation of this has ever been made. Her opponent Rhea Ripley, who reportedly wanted to relocate to Japan to be closer to home who has recently been teaming up Paige and has formed the edgy team of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The match for the title would be the main attraction of Grand Princess 2023 with the contest breaking the twenty minute mark and was without a doubt the best match of the card. The match would end with Ripley showing no mercy as she would plough Sayaka though a table in the middle of the ring with Riptide to become the champion. Ripley closing words would focus on wanting to continue to prove she 'WAS HER' and no one came close to being her equal and was looking forward to snapping bones and breaking dreams of whoever was selected to be her first challenger for the belt.
It was announced ahead of time that although the first ROH: STRONG episode would take place on the Forbidden Door Network, ROH would put out their 21st Anniversary show that would be given the tag line 'welcome to the gold rush'. It would confirmed that every single match would be a championship match and in some cases these were matches for vacant titles. A total of four belts were without champions because of various departures, very much due to previous problem of ROH not having really being given an identify of its own since being bought by Tony Khan, but there was high hopes that now under the management control of Brett Lauderdale whilst still being equally owned by AEW and NJPW.
The coming together of NJPW Strong and Ring of Honor was always going to see a combination of belts, but it hadn't been predicted that Stardom would also chip in and that the New Blood Tag Tea Titles would also be offered up as a title for the women to challenge for. The move would mean that ROH: STRONG would have three belts within their women's division which should be taken as a sign of their intent. The match for the titles would see Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne) with Mandy Rose in their corner taking on the unique pairing of Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. The match would be a good contest with Toxic Attraction looking the most dangerous and cocksure of the two teams. Cargill though would continue to present her as a dominant force in Women's wrestling though, as she would take hold of Dolin and lay her out with Jaded to claim the match and crown herself and Bianca as the champions.
The ROH World Tag Team Championships had also been left vacant and it was confirmed prior to the event that the House of Black (Brody King & Buddy Murphy) would be one of two teams challenging for the belts. The other team would remain a surprise until the Anniversary Show, when Robert Roode and James Storm would emerge from the back seeing Beery Money back on the table as a tag team. The match would be mostly one way traffic, with it really being about putting over Storm and Roode as a team and focusing on the fact that despite having not partnered up for a while still had what it took to win and by doing so would become six-time tag team champions as a pairing.
The match for the ROH Pure Championship would garner a lot of attention based on the two men who were pitted to face against each other and two technical masters. In one corner stood Josh Alexander who had proven himself as one of the best that Impact Wrestling had to offer in recent years and was no doubt a top guy. In the other corner was Ilja Dragunov who came into the match as a former NXT United Kingdom Champion and had shown real potential on multiple occasions, but many felt this could be the toughest match of his career so far. The match would be fought cleanly with both men respecting the rules of the match and really shing through and offering real hope for the Pure Division moving forward. The deadlock of some smart mat wrestling and submissions moves would be broken by an injection of pinpoint accuracy though as Dragunov would slingshot himself off the ropes and collide into Alexander with the Torpedo Moskau (Flying Headbutt) to hook over Alexander's legs to win the match and arguably win the biggest title of his entire career. Both men walked away looking amazing, and the fans had clearly loved every moment of the contest.
The final match for a belt without a champion, would see AJ Styles and Swerve Strickland battle it out for the ROH World Television Championship. Both men would feature in a great contest with the pair both looking great and arguably making strong cases for themselves as being more deserving of being part of the main-event scene moving forward. It would be Styles who would claim the win though, and would do so by hitting Swerve with the Styles Clash. The commentary team would inform the fans that Styles had now won the Television Title, the Pure Titles and the ROH World Tag Team Titles and all he needed was the big one to be become a Grand Slam winner in ROH. A point would be made however, that with the inclusion of the Strong belts - perhaps the definition of what equated as a slam would have to change.
The three NJPW Strong Championship would also pass from one authority to another, and 21st Anniversary would be marked as the official passing of the torch. Although, in truth only two of the belts actually had champions. Jaco Fatu was holding the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship and Shayna Baszler the NJPW Strong Women's Champion. Both holders would successfully retain their belts with Fatu beating Eddie Kingston and Baszler would be quick to squash Tay Melo to keep hold of her own title belt. After both matches the NJPW from both championships name's would be dropped and they would simply be announced as the Strong Openweight and Strong Women's Champion respectively. Confusion would still arise about where both titles would fit in the hierarchy of belts, but no doubt this would be a question that would have to be answered at a later date.
It would be announced that the new Strong Tag Team Champions would be crowned in a tournament that would start on the first episode of ROH: Strong in a competition that was being called the 'Strongest Tag Tournament' and there seemed to be a suggestion that this would become an annual event in a similar manner to Crockett Cup focusing on straight elimination rather than a tag league that was the format commonly used in competitions like the Global Tag League (NOAH) or the World Tag League (NJPW). It wasn't confirmed who or how many teams would be taking part in the tournament.
Even with Jay White having returned to Japan to be part of NOAH, The Gunns and Juice Robinson had remained with AEW and had ended up claiming ROH World Six-Man Championships and had looked very much like they were in control and had committed themselves to the future of the promotion instead of their past ties with All Elite Wrestling. (off-screen this seemed to have something to do with a disagreement with TK about plans regarding Bullet Club or a lack of one in AEW. At 21st Anniversary though it seemed that Bullet Club Gold had put all their eggs in one basket though, at as they stood on the precipice of really making them a really big name for themselves. However, the three men would get a really reality check as The Second Gear Crews (1 Called Manders, Mance Warner & Matthew Justice) would claim a shock victory to become the new champions.
Entering 21st Anniversary the champion for the men and women were coming from two very different places. Candice LeRae had proven herself to be an incredibly popular ROH Women's World Champion and her screen time with Indi Hartwell had put her massively over and she really had become on the most loved members of the collective AEW/ROH. Her match at the anniversary show would be hard hitting and really tough, so when Megan Bayne had go on to win the match the fans had mixed emotions. Bayne had thoroughly proven herself deserving of the belt, but they were still saddened that Candice's run had come to an end.
On the other side of things CM Punk had been the ROH World Championship since beating Claudio Castagnoli for the belt at Dynamite: Grand Slam (2022). However, rather than appearing on HonorClub he would flat out to refuse to turn up to ROH episodes and made it about money rather than wrestling. So when it later emerged that Punk had signed on with ROH: Strong, it didn't seem to sit well and there seemed to be blurred line between what was a work and what was a shoot. When it was announce that Will Ospreay had signed with Ring of Honor though it seemed he was on fast track to face Punk. So it was really no surprise when the match for the title was booked at the Anniversary Show. When Ospreay actually won the match, a wave of hysteria was felt amongst all of the fans in attendance as a new champion was crowned. Rather than celebrate the win though, Ospreay would add insult to injury by nailing Punk with a Hidden Blade as the former champion would seem to offer his hand which would only get an even bigger roar of approval from the fans.
Ever since The New Year 2023, when Kenoh beat Kaito Kiyomiya there have been two main point of focus in the main-event scene. The first had been Keiji Mutoh retirement tour which had now led to Mutoh now being the General Manager of Wrestle Universe. The second was the feud between Kongo and TMDK was the second. And it had turned into an all out war between both units. What had originally been about an all out war of proving which unit was the more dominant, had extended into being something else. JONAH the current leader of TMDK had cut a promo after one of the many blood encounters between the group and demanded that Kenoh give him a shot at the belt. And at Star Navigation (Night Two) the men would feature in a strong battle for the belts. JONAH would offer a good challenge, but Kenoh would shine through and eventually force his opponent to tap out by locking in the Kenoh Special (Omoplata single-arm straight-jacket crossface).
A Ten-Man Elimination Tag Team Match would also see the rest of both units going out earlier in the night in an all out war. TMDK (Mickey Nichols, Shane Haste, Robbie Eagles, Kosei Fujita & Shawn Spears) taking on Kongo ( Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya, Amakusa, Hajime Ohara & Hi69). It would be intense encounter, with both teams breaking the rules at every opportunity. The fans would love every moment of the contest that would eventually won when Robbie Eagles and Amakusa as the final man would have an exchange of aerial assaults that would finally end with Eagles charging forward and nailing Amakusa with Trigger (Running shining wizard to a kneeling opponent) to win the contest.
Heavily influenced by Mutoh, Darby Allin and Sting it seemed didn't need that much convincing for the pair to join NOAH. It also didn't take very long to Darby to win title gold and become the the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion by defeating Amakusa. It would be confirmed that NOAH's first major event on the 'Forbidden Door Network' would be Green Journey in Sendai - which would be the first confirmed event on the network. Darby would offer whoever won a Scramble Match at Star Navigation (Night Two) a chance to face him in what had been promised to him by Mutoh as the main-event of the show. Terry Yaki, HAYATA, KUSHIDA, Sammy Guevara and Rocky Romero would feature in a great match, which would very much help raise the profile of the title. All five men could have won the contest at various moments of the contest, however it was possible for only one winner to emerge. And that man would be KUSHIDA.
Reigning GHC Hardcore Champion would feature in a live video dial in and speak to fans on the big screen and apologise that he had been unable to attend Star Navigation (Night Two) at Korakuen Hall because of a situation that he needed to deal with back home in Mexico. Pagano would send out an open challenge to anyone who wanted his title in the first episode of Monday Magic on the Network in a 'Burning Coffin Death Match'. Pagano would make it known that he had been given full license to make matches as hardcore as they needed to be, to really generate a major interest for extreme wrestling in Japan on a major broadcasting service. Pagano would add that the door would be open to anyone, on any of the promotions who were part of the network.
Long before Jay White had jumped to NOAH and formed his new version of Bullet Club. KENTA had reformed the 'No Mercy' stable taking control of the unit and had recruited the services of Takashi Sugiura, El Hio de Dr. Wagner, Jr., Chase Owens, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Oni El Bendito and as the group had put in a fair bit of work and really laid down strong roots. Jay White though had been keen for the former Bullet Club members to fall back in line and had suggested that they face each other in a friendly 6-Man Tag Team Match that saw Bullet Club Ark (Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi & David Finlay) w/ Dick Togo take on No Mercy (KENTA, Chase Owens & Yoshinobu Kanemaru). The match would be fought in good spirits, until it looked like KENTA was setting up Finlay for the finish. That would no happen though as Dick Togo, ELP and Taiji Ishimori with steel chairs in hand and would deliver simultaneous shots that would result in the match immediately ending by DQ. The beating wouldn't stop though at the rest of BCA from laying out Owens and Kanemaru. All three members of No Mercy would be covered with Bullet Club flags at the end of the segment with all members of the Bullet Club celebrating in the ring.
After being forced out of All Elite Wrestling (as SCU), Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian had signed with NOAH long before there had even been talk of the Forbidden Door Network, and it was rumoured that neither man were particularly happy with the idea of an influx of potentially other 'major' tag teams from stealing their time in the sun which currently involved them being the reigning GHC Tag Team Champion. At Star Navigation, the two men would successfully defend their belts against the challenging pair of No Mercy (Takashi Sugiura & Oni El Bendito). After the match Daniels would cut a short promo and remind the fans that they had been the champions for five months, and they had no intentions of dropping the belts anytime soon.
Francesco Akira and TJP had both jumped ships after they had been offered quite a lucrative contract to walk out of New Japan and join NOAH. It didn't take long for Catch 2/2 to earn a shot at the GHC Junior Tag Team Championships, which were currently being held Kaito Ishida & Kotaro Suzuki who were rumoured to be part of a new stable forming in GLEAT. The challengers would put on an amazing showing, with both men looking a million dollars and would claim the titles by wiping out Kaito Ishida with The Leaning Tower (Electric chair drop (TJP)/Springboard avalanche cutter (Akira) combination followed by an arm trap cross-legged STF (TJP)) to become the new champions. It would be announced later on during Star Navigation, that the Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League would return to NOAH for the first time since 2019 (using the round robin format) and that a total fifteen teams split into three blocks would take part in the league, with the blocks winners and the best 2nd place finishers facing off in Semi Finals and a Final with the winner earning a future shot at the Junior tag titles. It wasn't clear if the tournament would be NOAH exclusive, or if teams from other promotions would be invited to take part.
At Star Navigation El Hijo de Dr. Wagner, Jr. would successfully defend the GHC National Championship against the truly insane PCO, with the Canadian Monster insisting on attempting to use a wrench to gain leverage throughout the contest. After the match, the champion's father Dr. Wagner, Jr. would join him in the ring and cut an emotional promo in Spanish. He would declare his son as the future of this company and that he would be the first foreigner since Eddie Edward to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship and from his point of view the National Championship was already on par with the belt around Kenoh's waist if not slightly more important and that come 'The New Year 2024' his son would be the face of this company. From this day onwards, he would no longer be simply be referred to as his son but would honor his father and simply be called Dr. Wagner.
Death Rose (Nyla Rose) and Steph De Lander had become the newest tag team in the Knockouts' Division and had very much been on the the hunt in becoming the Knockouts Tag Team Champions that had been held for a decent length by the Death Dollz (Rosemary & Jessicka Havok). Nyla Rose transitioned herself from being Nyla Rose to wearing attire similar to that of Death Stroke and referring to herself as Death Rose with the soul of intention of crushing the Dollz and claiming tag glory. Herself and De Lander would start referring to themselves as 'Verboten!' (Forbidden in German) and would earn their shot at the belts at No Surrender 2023, which would be the final event under the Impact Wrestling banner before the promotion would officially become Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The match would be bloody, but it would be the blood of Havok and Rosemary that would be splattered over Rose's mask before she would finally finish offer Rosemary by crunching her down on the canvas with the Beast Bomb.
As Death Rose and De Lander would celebrate the win, Steph would reach for a microphone and ask for the Death Dollz to join them in the ring. De Lander would address them that this had always been about the belts and nothing else, but Dollz had been their toughest opponents to date and she felt they would be together as friends rather than enemies. She would invite the pair to join their ranks and become Verboten. Rosemary and Havok would confer for a moment before standing side by side next to the champions as Verboten by Exfeind would blast around the building before the lights would go black. When they came back on four members of Verboten were nowhere to be seen.
Logan Paul's departure from WWE to Impact Wrestling had not really turned many heads. No one had really believed he would last very long, but when he turned up at Impact no had really known the direct things were going to go. So when Logan would appear standing dressed in War Dogs attire and standing alongside Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney & Carmelo Hayes people were a little bit surprised when it was announced that Paul was the new leader of the War Dogs. Logan would wrestle very little, but very much be the man on the sidelines as the War Dogs would very much establish themselves as the top heel unit of the promotion. Although, the group was jumping between NJPW and AEW commitment Paul would only feature on Impact programming. So when Logan Paul defeated Tommy Dreamer and became the Digital Media Champion, everyone was left scratching their heads and wondering whether Logan Paul was far more talented than anyone had considered.
At No Surrender Logan Paul would promise a shot to the man in the War Dogs who was most deserving and would announce Gabe Kidd as his challenger. On the night though, Paul would make a mockery of the title as a moment that would be referred to as the 'Thumb Press of Doom' would occur when Kidd would would press him thumb against Logan's forehead and he would flop to the floor, with Kidd dropping down and covering him for the victory and crowning himself the new champion. The fans would jeer and boo as the situation had made complete mockery of the title belt and put the company in a bad light. The way all the War Dogs were laughing though, it was clear that none of them really cared.
Atsushi Onita would make his debut as a member of Impact Wrestling at No Surrender by claiming a win over Rey Mysterio. The 66 year-old would announce that he fully intended to die before he retired, but knew that eventually wrestlers would refuse to fight him. However, he would announce that he would put his body on the line each and every time he stepped into the ring and only wanted to face the very best. He would also express frustration at Mysterio for not treating him with the respect he deserved and would suggest Rey had gone easy on him and hoped that no one else on TNA would end up being a complete coward.
Rey Horus would officially make his debut as a contracted member of the roster at No Surrender against Trey Miguel in a Special Singles match. Miguel was the reigning X-Division Champion, but it had been decided that Horus would not get a shot at the belt. This factor clearly frustrated Rey and also motivated him and he would pull off an incredible showing off himself and actually claim victory over the champion by wiping out Miguel with a Satellite DDT. After the match Miguel and Horus would exchange words, with it being very clear that Horus wanted a shot at the X-Division Title the next time the two men crossed paths.
At No Surrender there would be an Ultimate-X match to become the #1 contenders and the first team to challenge ABC (Chris Bey & Ace Austin) for what would then be the TNA World Tag Team Championships as following the show, the switch from Impact Wrestling to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling be completed. Four teams would battle to grab the large red X hanging over the rings, with The Creeds, the Street Profits, The Steinerz (Scott & Bronn) and The Acclaimed would feature in a total spot fest. It would be Anthony Bowens who would push himself to the middle and pull down the X to earn himself and Max Caster a future shot at the belts.
A recent influx of new and returning talent had resulted in the Knockouts Division really becoming a highly focused area of Impact Wrestling, with it felt that when the promotion returned to be referred to as TNA, the Knockouts Division would be one of its biggest draw. LuFisto who was the current holder of the belt had announced that the day she lost the belt was the day she would officially leave her wrestling boots in the ring and finish the final chapter of her career. However, with so much competition Scott D'Amore had a tough task of deciding who on the roster was most deserving of the next shot at the champion. At No Surrender a Six Man Tag Team Match would take place with Dakota Kai, Tegan Nox & Charlotte claiming a win over Alexa Bliss, Cora Jade & Rok-C. After the contest though, it was hard to tell who had been teamed up with who as there was a complete overload of competitiveness and a desire to be named as the next person to challenge LuFisto for the title. As it stood, there was no really understanding of who was most worthy. And this didn't include members of the division that hadn't even been involved in the contest.
Matt Riddle and Johnny Impact had been feuding with each other for over three month, with Riddle being nothing but a every growing annoyance to the Impact World Champion. Eventually, Johnny Impact would snap though and that Riddle might be 'The Dude' but he, was 'The Fucking Dude!' and that at No Surrender when the new TNA World Championship was revealed he would give Riddle a third chance to beat him and win the gold. The two previous meeting had resulted in a win for Johnny and a time-limit draw, but this third match was by far the most competitive and the best between the both men with the emotion of their rivalry really being felt in the ring. Impact though would show his 2nd reign as the champion, was even greater than his first. After landing on top of Riddle with Starship Pain, he would then add insult to injury by locking Riddle in his own move Bromission (Twister) and forcing him to submit to retain the belt. As Johnny celebrate his victory, the show would end with music that had never been heard before in either Impact or TNA, but it was fair to say the crowd went wild as it did with the show ending with a message on the titantron 'Game Over'.
The 51st Anniversary Show would very much be a show in which a number of major names would make debuts for New Japan having previously been announced to have signed for the promotion. Jon Moxley had been working part-time for NJPW for years now and was currently in his third reign as the IWGP United States Champion. At Wrestle Kingdom, one of his partners from his day as part of The Shield, Tyler Black made his debut and became the first KOPOW provisional champion of 2023. It would then be announced that the third member of their former trio Roman Reigns along with The Usos had signed contracts and joined the company. At the anniversary show Roman Reigns would wrestle in Japan for the first time (not included WWE House Shows) with the Shield reunited for the first time since 2019. They would be joined another recent WWE departure Kevin Steen along with a man who hadn't been seen anywhere in over a decade El Generico.
The team that would be referred to as 'Team WWE' by the commentary team (Jon Moxley, Tyler Black, Roman Reigns, Kevin Steen & El Generico) would claim an impressive win over Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Kenny Omega with Chris Charlton & Walker Stewart commenting that there were so many great singles matchups that could happen with just the ten men that had been involved in that match alone.
When Bryan Danielson signed with New Japan, he did so with open honesty in admitting he only had a few good years left and intended on these last few being the ones that he achieved all of his dreams and would declare it 'The Age of Dragons' and would announce that both himself and Shingo Takagi had formed a bond as both being an American Dragon and a Japanese Dragon. Both men would be involved in fairly high caliber matches during the anniversary show.
Shingo would be the first person to challenge new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship SANADA for the belt (which he had won from Okada at New Beginnings in Osaka). The match would be an interesting bout, but it would be SANADA who would successfully defend the belt and be joined by the rest of LIJ at the end of the show to celebrate the victory. Earlier on in the night though, in a thrilling number one contender's match, Danielson would claim a victory over the debuting Cody Rhodes to lock himself in as the next man who would challenge for the New Japan's big belt. And after SANADA was declared the winner later in the night, the commentary teams both English and Japanese could not contain their excitement of the match that was waiting for them all on the horizon.
At Wrestle Kingdom, following Zack Sabre, Jr. defeating Ren Narita to become the inaugural NJPW World Television Championship - Sabre would take to the microphone. He would talk about how 2023 was all about having just a bit of fun and he had a couple of lads backstage that he knew would want to be part of this exciting year. Out from the back would emerge Taichi and Masto Master Wato. The three of them would reveal t-shirt that were emblazoned with 'JUST 5 LADS' print across them, but of course with only three wrestler in the ring that surely meant that two people were yet to be introduced. The first man to walk from the back would be Drew Galloway, who would make his first ever appearance on New Japan. Galloway would have a few words to say, but make it known that he had one person more than anyone that he wanted to wrestle and would name drop EVIL. The fifth lad would cause the most shock and disruption from the fans as Kaito Kiyomiya would reveal himself and talk about his plans of winning all the belts and that he had elected to become a Junior Heavyweight due to him being under the weight limit and very much had his targets set on winning both titles within the division before working his way up the roster and that Wato would be his partner moving forward.
At the Anniversary al of the lads apart from Taichi would be booked to compete. Kaito and Master Wato had used Kiyomiya's previous star power to their advantage and would challenge the Grizzled Young Veterans for IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. GYV would show their experience as a pair though and successfully defend their belts. Drew Galloway would have his wishes fulfilled and have a match against EVIL. The match was a good showing, until EVIL would bend the rules and hold onto the ropes why rolling Drew in a roll-up pin to arguably steal the win. Fortunately, Just 5 lads would enjoy some success during the show with ZSJ successfully defending the Television belt against former NOAH top talent Go Shiozaki.
At Wrestle Kingdom AXIS (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima) successfully became the IWGP Tag Team Champions. At New Year Dash, the new champions would offer an open challenge to anyone present in the back to face them for their belts. The challenge would be answered by The Usos, who on their NJPW debut would win the title and throw the entire tag division into chaos with arguably one of the biggest teams from the United States now holding the top tag team belt in Japan. Jimmy and Jey would start coining a phrase 'We Are Them' and also make a point of stating that the Bloodline was eternal and could never be ended or replaced. At the Anniversary Show The Usos would offer the former champions a rematch for the belts, but would continue to show everyone why - they are them.
Hiromu Takahashi was now in his fifth reign as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and much talk was being made that considering the competition that had always been present for him in many way he was a greater Junior Heavyweight than either Jushin Thunder Liger, Prince Devitt or Minoru Tanaka and was there really anybody in the division that could take the belt away from him and more importantly keep it away from him. Much talk was that Takahashi was going to be pushed towards bigger and better things, but that until he lost the belt he was going to keep on giving his all. At the Anniversary show he would retain the belt against a fiery Titan and cut a promo pleading for someone to finally offer him challenge worthy of his time and effort and hoped that perhaps some of the new signing would have a little bit more to offer than some of the over-rated home grown talent he had been putting up with for years.
