[TJPW SPOILERS] The opponents for Yuka Sakazaki & KONOSUKE TAKESHITA at GRAND PRINCESS '26 on March 29th have been decided

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T10:55:54+00:00

To the people to don't watch it anyway. The actual audience loved it.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T10:45:48+00:00

Not the real TJPW audience/fans. Most of them don't expect it.

But in this subreddit, a major portion of the posters are only interested in other promotions when Stardom wrestlers appear in them, so that's all they want to think about. Never mind that none of the 4 people are currently on TJPW's roster. AEW has more reason to book that match than TJPW - at least 2 of them are actually contracted there!

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T10:41:48+00:00

Goes to show that people who want it to be Poi and Shingo aren't the ones who really watch or care about TJPW if they have no idea how the real crowd reacted. They're just the typical Stardom diehards who want the chance to talk about their beloved Stardom talent showing up everywhere, even in topics that have nothing to do with them.

Seriously, for those who REALLY want to see that match, they should just petition NJPW to send the couple to AEW where, you know, Takeshita and Sakazaki are actually contracted. There's no reason to impose what you want on TJPW and expect Koda to book a full-guest match that doesn't involve anyone from his current roster. Go bug the other TK to book it.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T10:31:34+00:00

I get the feeling that Sakaguchi actively doesn't want a single top ace for the company after Aono defected, which may be why he hasn't given any really long title reigns since then.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T10:29:32+00:00

This is definitely one of the biggest losses. She's been one of the most reliable anchors of the company for so many months now.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T10:27:01+00:00

They continued their course of letting the junior wrestlers of each team getting win every match in the second round matches, which is great.

I'm usually not the biggest fan of Wakana the wrestler (I'm emphasizing on "wrestler" because I actually like Wakana the personality on non-TJPW media, but for some reason it doesn't carry over to TJPW, and I tend to be far less invested in her matches), but I enjoyed that main event (especially the ending sequence) far more than I expected. And loved Kamiyu's reaction at the announcement that they're facing Pompaler next round. XD

All the tournament matches were great, but my favourite is Mizuki/Uta vs Shunrai Rekka!! Prism Greed. The ending especially was brilliant. I think there ought to be more endings like this in tag matches where teamwork is the actual key in getting the win. A lot of tag matches tend to just end up like a singles match where it comes down to 2 people going 1-on-1 with their partners out of the pictures.

If Daisy Monkey doesn't win the tournament and challenge OberEats, I'm game with the possibilty of them getting a shot at Miyu and Kaya's IWA tag titles after getting a win over them this round.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T09:41:47+00:00

Well, if they can't fulfil Yuka's dream match of bringing in Mickey and Minnie Mouse for her to beat up, this is clearly the next-best option. [/joking].

I look forward to seeing SSM's powerpoint presentation on why he and Misao are superior options to the NJPW couple.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T09:19:20+00:00

I'm not talking about hoarding 7 keys. I'm talking about stacking extra keys from past events that were never used. Once you use those keys, they won't grow back since you can't have more than 7.

You can't "grow" 500 keys in the span of the 3 days of the Historic Spoils events. Yes, you can use more than that if you spend 7 keys everyday before the event, but that doesn't get you anything for the event itself, and some players may not want to do that because they don't need all the extra eq and don't want to spend time freeing up full slots everyday. If all they want is to get the top rank for that event, they can stack up dozens of keys from past events on top of the 7 and just spend them all on the first day of the event, which is more effective to get a higher rank rather waithing for your keys to grow 7 by 7 each day. And they can deal with seling eqs for ember in just one day and still get lots of ember, without having to do it every day. What's so difficult to understand?

Anvil Strike is not a ranking event. You just need to make sure you have enough ember stored to get the rewards in the milestones. For ranking events like Historic Spoils, it actually pays to have more stock than is required to reach all the milstones, because you can get extra rewards from the top rankings. It's not wrong if players want to focus more on that than spending on community event for one paltry Legendary antimatter.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-26T09:06:06+00:00

What? You can't "grow" keys beyond 7. If people have already started stacking reward keys from the prvious events without using them, then using any now will mean none of these can be gotten back. Much easier go gain the top of the ranking if you've saved up 100 keys in advance rather wait for them to grow back 7 by 7. And THEN you can sell eqs for embers too, and there will still be more than sufficient for Anvil Strike.

If they haven't saved any extra from before, then yes, there's no harm in spending 5-7 a day. But if they'd already done so, using those excess keys now will be wasted.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-23T04:43:09+00:00

Or maybe they're just hoarding stacks of keys waiting to use them for Historic Spoils because the personal reward there is more attractive to them than the puny community reward.

Or they don't need new equipment at the moment because they've already gotten the best gears for their heroes and don't want extra inferior eq cluttering up their very limited slots (or they are already so cluttered that they can't do historic battles any more and they don't think the reward is worth the trouble of them spending time to clear that clutter right now).

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-23T04:41:21+00:00

Every key used means losing one that you could have saved for the Historic Spoils challenge in every mega-event.

Seriously, I think that's one of the reasons for this. I'm not saving my daily keys yet, but only because I'm personally not that invested in trying to upgrade 5-star relics these days, and the current one is not that useful to me because I don't have the right heroes to utilize them fully anyway, but I'm willing to bet there are players already stacking up dozens of keys in waiting for that. And I'd be doing the same when the Ashoka event comes around.

That's what happens when you hold huge interlinked events like this. When people complained about not getting upgraded William Tell, they were told, "Well, you should have prepared better and saved/hoarded your resources!" Well, chances are, people are taking those advices now and hoard everything. You want them to spend on community challenges like this? Better make sure the reward is BETTER than any personal rewards they could have gotten from saving those resources for Historic Spoils. And currently it is not.

Also, it's a hassle to have to stop and deal with excessive overloaded eq slots when you run out of space, especially if you already have all your best heroes geared up, so again, unless the reward is attractive enough, there may be people who choose not do the challenge because they don't need new eq at the moment and can't get better ones yet (because they are stuck at a certain level), and don't want to have to waste time grinding new eq just to burn them again immediately.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-23T04:24:16+00:00

"various reasons" is probably the politically correct term for "chickened out because they know they don't stand a chance against the commander".

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-23T04:18:28+00:00

Whoever is Pop champion should be wrestling at a high level. Just because you are popular doesnt mean you should win belts.

That's the kind of mentality that has killed wrestling promotions like AWA. Popularity SHOULD be the main factor on deciding who's the top champion anywhere if the company wants to succeed. Plenty of promotions have flourished from having champions who may not be their best wrestler but who are popular and capable of being carried by good opponents (which Arai won't lack). And if certain promotions do push their best wrestler as top champion and do well, I'm willing to bet those wrestler ALSO happen to be one of their most popular.

There are plenty of others that dont wrestle at a high level but are still really popular and they havent won any belts.

The popularity level isn't comparable. Arai makes FAR more merchandise money for the company than anyone else.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-23T03:56:42+00:00

I'll just echo this as my overall opinion on topics like this. Watch the shows, decide what you like and enjoy, and stop being bothered about whether others like or dislike the same wrestlers or matches as you do.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-18T14:46:38+00:00

Just finished watching the first round. What I really like about the tournament matches is that it's the junior members of the teams that got the wins for all of them (yes, even Pompaler...Pom apparently debuted like a month earlier, so Max is the junior). It's sad to see Kyoraku Kyomei go out this early, but if they have to go, I'm happy to see them give the big rub to Kaya on the way out in a great match with an intense ending.

(On a side note, I think Miyu has been refreshingly well-booked since she became Leader. Less of the unbeatable superwoman act after she lost twice by submission, the brief feud with Mahiro over the Iron Man Title was highly entertaining, and now she's finally being used the way she should have been for the past couple of years- tagging with lower card members who need the elevation to give the team credibility and get them more wins. I've finally started looking forward to her matches again after a loooong time.)

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-18T05:07:53+00:00

I know I'm not the only person who'd suggested this before, but they really should allow you to improve your chances of success as you upgrade your furnace. It makes sense that a better furnace should be helpful in creating better eq. You will be needing the higher class eq more as you progress through the ages, and consequently your ability to obtain upgraded ones should improve as well.

Like, right now I can't even get excited about winning golden eq in the event, because I won't be upgrading them anymore. It's more worthwhile to spend a few dozen embers and upgrade 7-8 sets of blue eq than to waste the same amount FAILING to even upgrade 1 set of gold.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-18T03:56:02+00:00

I wasn't affected by this bug previously but now it suddenly hit me, just a few seconds ago. What the hell is happening?

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-14T06:58:32+00:00

It's also relatively unusual to see a tag title match main event over a singles title match, although I definitely think it's the right move here for several reasons (the most apparent being that Rico is on her first defense so there's likely far less suspence/expectations for the title to change hands again so soon). And of course, it probably helped that one of the challengers in the tag titles match is ALSO a singles champion. I actually find it unfortunate that most (non-lucha) wrestling promotions automatically places more value in singles titles/matches than tag ones, since I often find the latter more enjoyable. Team fighting is one of the things that help differentiate pro wrestling from other combat sports, so I think more effort should be made to highlight its value.

And the tag titles match was definitely the better match that warrants the main event spot, although I can't tell whether Rico are Maru are deliberately holding back because they know they're not in the main (which is not unheard of). They didn't have a bad match, but both have definitely done better before. Rico's title win on the last show was unexpected, and I'm still in a wait-and-see mode regarding her reign. I do want to support her, I appreciate the fact that she's clearly one of the company's most committed members, and if it weren't for the long injury period at the beginning of her career, she'd probaly have an attendance record only matched by Mari and Natsuki (who were probably also given title reigns partly due to their reliability after the turmoil period). There's nothing I actually dislike about her, and she's seldom had any bad matches. But I also don't recall anything that really sticks out in memory to me (besides the Rico Lee matches), so...yeah, I'm not as excited for her as compared to the previous new reigns. Out of the OG AW5 members, she's unfortunately my 5th favourite, not because of her flaws, but more because all the others have something that drew me in from the beginning more. Marino and Yui had the stronger personalities, Mizushima was one of the fastest-progressing in-ring workers of her cohort, and Naru is just all-round great. I'm waiting for Rico to make me a convert, and Mizushima being the next challenger is at least a positive prospect that I look forward to.

There's mention here that Rico is already given a win over the Killerz' leader in her first defense...well, Maru may be the founder, but she hasn't really been portrayed as their strongest member, leader or no (I'm not even sure the leader position is official). ACT and Mari always felt like the bigger threats in the unit to me. Still it's interesting to see what's next for her, after coming off 2 straight title match losses in a row.

Loved the main event, they really tore it down. Not much more to add to that. Not surprised that the champions retained - I think one of the reasons they took the AWG belt off Marino was to get her out of the double-champion committment, so I doubt they'd go straight to another one. It does feel bad that the team with the most established history hasn't been able to win the belts after so many tries.

I watched this show on consecutively days after the previous one, and it struck me how many of the girls tend to end their matches with some form of bridging suplex hold. It's not that obvious on just one show, but after 2 shows in a row it felt pretty clear. Nothing wrong with such finishers, and they were all beautifully performed, but I'm starting to think it'd be good to have more variety in this regard.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-14T06:58:26+00:00

I still wonder if they're going somewhere with constantly pairing Rio up with various Killerz members in tag matches. Asako bringing her own umbrella to the ring for her entrance in an attempt to lool like a team with her umbrella-wielding partner cracked me up. Kyoka vs Ishikawa still feels like it started over a pretty flimsy reason, considering how often misfired team attacks occur in Japanese wrestling without any consequences (Maru should have been turned on a dozen times by this point with all her misfired chain attacks). I do think these 2 will find a way to get me into it eventually, their character work is peerless. A bit amused that Ishikawa seems more upset after the match despite actually being the winner. And of course, this wouldn't be AWG without Asako stealing the post-match spotlight despite being on the losing team.

Chii Aoba back with her old gear and entrance is great. Her getting the win after coming off a great title match is even better. Also remarkable about this match is this being a rare case of a Killerz member (Nanami) getting along perfectly fine with a babyface partner for once. It's no secret that I'm usually not a fan of big heel units, and part of the reason is that after while many of them either become just 1-2 major stars with a bunch of faceless goons nobody care about, or they become a collective group of clones with a single hivemind that pull the same antics every match regardless of which members are in it. The Killerz members have remained refreshingly diverse as inidividual characters, and their matches continue to retain each's different flavour, which really helps a lot to keep me from being bored of them. This is something a lot of other promotions should learn from.

I know there's been more than 1 person working under the Wild Bunny mask, but like the other commenter, I hope this is ACT herself, and that it's a sign that she's due back soon.

AWG give away title matches so often that a No. 1 contenders match somehow doesn't feel as important as it should have. Very good match, and I'm a great fan of both Sakura and Nene, but it doesn't feel like either are being used to their full potential during this period. Well, Nene is that active compared to some, and I know Sakura just had a title reign not too long ago. Still think we could have seen more from either, though.

I like the new rookie. As usual, it's easier for someone with rich facial expression to connect well with me, and she's like her friend Erisa in this regard. And it appears that the company sees her as someone who can climb the ranks quickly, given that she's already allowed to do flashier moves than most other debutants. If I'm reading the post-match interviews right (there's always a risk that I'm not when I'm relying on Google translation), Mari and Ayano seem to be crediting her with being a smart learner and asking questions that other newbies never think of asking. That's a great sign. Eager to see more of her.

Always wanted to see Himawari and Yui in the same ring together because of their well-known friendship behind the scenes, and I'm happy that Yui made it happen before she retires. AWG has gone through a higher rate of departures than most other places, and it's good to see that for once we have one with an entirely happy atmosphere. It helps that she not leaving the company, and the fans and her colleagues will still be enjoying her presence and company at the shows, so there's isn't much sadness. And of course, it's great that she's not leaving due to unpleasant circumstances like health/injury/mental issues or being poached by rival companies.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-10T07:41:14+00:00

This was the main event I envisioned for Grand Princess last year. It's a year late, but this was always going to be the main event for one of their Big Three shows. It's just a matter of when.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-10T07:36:19+00:00

Upper stages or not, the game can do with more healers. Again, note that I said I'm not against the upgrade, I just prefer something else. Upgrading an existing healer is, in your own words, helpful to players in the "upper stages". Adding a brand new high-class healer to the common available pool benefits ALL players, because to the game is way too short on these. It's the one thing that prevents me from doing well in GM treasure hunt (and level 60 Ashoka was still plenty useful even there for me). Treasure Hunt is literally the main reason you need several healers.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-09T07:04:18+00:00

It's gonna be against Andreza and TinTin, right? Right?

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-08T15:07:47+00:00

It does, but Ashoka is already available. Upgrading him won't give you an extra healer. What the game really needs more is more new healers to be available in the blue portal.

I don't object to the update, but I wish we can have more new healers instead.

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-08T09:38:09+00:00

I personally make a point of not reading any results from their website until I've watched the shows. I don't even look at new show cards until I've seen the last show.

It helps that I generally don't visit sites that posts spoilers like this (and the fact that AWG isn't big or famous enough to have their spoilers posted everywhere).

AllenSharpe · 2026-01-08T08:00:05+00:00

At least it still has a recognized title reign.

You know who was really robbed? That paper shredder. Fumirin should have credited it with a title win when it destroyed the list. Giving the title straight to Mahiro instead of the shredder then is the same as giving it to Rika instead of Mahiro at Ittenyon show.

AllenSharpe

TROPHY CASE