All Star Junior Festival 2023 | |||
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Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
Date | March 1, 2023 | ||
City | Tokyo, Japan | ||
Venue | Korakuen Hall | ||
Attendance | 1,381 [1] | ||
Tagline(s) | Junior Dream Festival [2] | ||
Event chronology | |||
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All Star Junior Festival chronology | |||
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All Star Junior Festival 2023 was an interpromotional professional wrestling pay-per-view event organized by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was held on March 1, 2023 at Korakuen Hall in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The event, which was produced by NJPW wrestler Hiromu Takahashi, featured the participation of junior heavyweight wrestlers from over 20 different promotions from around the world.
In the main event, NJPW's Master Wato defeated All Japan Pro Wrestling's Atsuki Aoyagi. In other prominent matches, Taiji Ishimori defeated Soberano Jr., Shun Skywalker, Ninja Mack, and Yo-Hey in a five-way match and Hiromu Takahashi teamed with Fujita "Jr." Hayato and Amakusa to defeat Hayata, Yamato, and Kazuki Hashimoto.
On January 23, 2023, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) officially announced the All Star Junior Festival. [3] [4] The event is produced by NJPW's Hiromu Takahashi and features junior heavyweight wrestlers from over 20 different Japanese and international promotions. [3] [5]
As part of the event's publicity efforts, participants were announced each day throughout the month of February by their respective promotion on Twitter.
All Star Junior Festival 2023 featured ten professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match. [53]
The Best of the Super Juniors is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), typically in May or June. Originally known as Top of the Super Juniors, the first tournament was held in 1988 with annual tournaments taking place since 1991. The wrestlers in the tournament are typically junior heavyweight wrestlers from promotions all over the world. NJPW has held 29 Super Juniors tournaments. Hiromu Takahashi holds the record for most tournament wins with four, while Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto have won three each. Takahashi is also the only wrestler to have won three consecutive tournaments. Kanemoto holds the record for the most final appearances, having wrestled eight finals between 1997 and 2009. Liger has participated in the most tournaments, competing in all tournaments except 1995 and 2000 until his 26th and final Super Junior tournament in 2017.
Kota Ibushi is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist who is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenure with New Japan-Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
Daisuke Sasaki is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where is a former two-time DDT Universal Champion. In addition to that, in DDT, he is also a former three-time KO-D Openweight Champion, one-time DDT Extreme Champion, six-time KO-D Tag Team Champion, three-time KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champion and a three-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion. Sasaki has also made several appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), working in the promotion's junior heavyweight division.
Killer Elite Squad, often abbreviated to K.E.S., was the professional wrestling tag team of Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer. The team made its debut in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion in September 2012 and have since worked together also in North America, most notably for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). In Japan, they have worked as part of the larger Suzuki-gun stable ever since being put together by NJPW.
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Apollo 55 was the professional wrestling tag team of Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi. One of the most accomplished junior heavyweight tag teams in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) history, the team held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship four times and successfully defended it during their second reign record-setting seven times. While members of Apollo 55, Devitt and Taguchi also accomplished several singles achievements with Devitt holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three times, while both he and Taguchi managed to win the annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After four years of teaming together, the team disbanded in April 2013.
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The New Beginning is an annual professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event has been held since 2011 as a pay-per-view (PPV). From 2013 to 2014, the event also aired outside Japan as an internet pay-per-view (iPPV). Since 2015, the event has aired worldwide on NJPW's internet streaming site, NJPW World. The event is held in February, the month following NJPW's biggest annual event, the January 4 Dome Show, usually the culmination point of major storylines. As the name of the event suggests, it marks the beginning of a new year for the promotion.
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Sakura Genesis is an annual professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) since 2013. Held annually at Tokyo's Ryōgoku Kokugikan, the event has been nicknamed "Spring Showdown at Ryōgoku". Originally known as Invasion Attack, the event was renamed in 2017 after the sakura, in English "cherry blossom", which blooms in early April.
NEVER was a series of professional wrestling events held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) between August 2010 and November 2012. On July 12, 2010, NJPW officially announced the NEVER project, which was to highlight younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion. It was explained that the name of the project was an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal" and "Radical". For the events, NJPW recruited several freelancers as well as wrestlers signed to promotions such as DDT Pro-Wrestling and Kaientai Dojo. Some outsiders who became NEVER regulars included Daisuke Sasaki, Kaji Tomato, Madoka, Ryuichi Sekine and Shinobu. Kushida, who entered NEVER as a representative of the Smash promotion in February 2011, signed a NJPW contract the following month and returned to the project the following September, now representing NJPW. Three NJPW trainees; Hiromu Takahashi, Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu, made their professional wrestling debuts at NEVER events. Takahashi, who debuted at NEVER.1, was the only wrestler who wrestled on all thirteen NEVER events.
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