New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro-Wrestling unite on July 1st to celebrate their 40th anniversaries at the historic Sumo Hall, and finally we have a full card. As previously known, NOAH’s Jun Akiyama defends the Triple Crown against Taiyo Kea while BJW tandem Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi defend the All Asia Tag Team Title against the super-heavyweight pair of Akebono & Ryota Hama. Now the rest is known and Akiyama vs. Kea will be just one third of a triple main event which is topped by Hiroshi Tanahashi’s V1 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Togi Makabe. These two have surprisingly never met for the belt in any of Tanahashi’s six reigns or Makabe’s sole reign.

TenKoji recruit the legendary Keiji Muto in their attempt to deal with CHAOS as the former nWo Japan trio go to war with Yano, Iizuka & Ishii. In what should be a very stiff battle, Suwama & Shuji Kondo meet CHAOS’ top two, Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada as Okada looks to back bounce instantly from losing the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Underneath are an array of multi-person tags mixing wrestlers from the promotions, including the first interaction between Kenzo Suzuki (KENSO) and his original home New Japan since he quit the company to follow Riki Choshu in forming World Japan back in 2003. Kenzo and Tanahashi formed a popular tag team early in their careers but are at opposite ends of the card at Sumo Hall.

NJPW/AJPW “NJPW & AJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ WE ARE PRO-WRESTLING LOVE!”, 7/1/12 (WPW/Asahi Newstar/GAORA TV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. KENSO, Masanobu Fuchi & Captain New Japan vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Jado & Gedo
2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Shiryu, BUSHI & SUSHI vs. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, KAI, Hiroshi Yamato & Hiromu Takahashi
3. Takao Omori, Manabu Soya, Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
4. Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue & KUSHIDA vs. Masakatsu Funaki, Masayuki Kono & Minoru Tanaka
5. All Asia Tag Team Title: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (c) vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama
6. Tetsuya Naito & Tama Tonga vs. Seiya Sanada & Joe Doering
7. Suwama & Shuji Kondo vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada
8. NJPW & AJPW 40th Anniversary Main Event I: Keiji Muto, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
9. NJPW & AJPW 40th Anniversary Main Event II – Triple Crown: Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Taiyo Kea
10. NJPW & AJPW 40th Anniversary Main Event III – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Togi Makabe

The first match has been announced for the joint New Japan and All Japan 40th anniversary show at Sumo Hall on July 1st. It doesn’t involve a New Japan wrestler so is very much from the All Japan side, as All Japan trueborn and Pro Wrestling NOAH star Jun Akiyama defends his Triple Crown against newly crowned Champion Carnival winner Taiyo Kea.

NJPW/AJPW “NJPW & AJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ WE ARE PRO-WRESTLING LOVE!”, 7/1/12
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Triple Crown: Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Taiyo Kea

Kota Ibushi will make his V1 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against the man he just won the belt from, Prince Devitt, at DDT’s Sumo Hall super-show on July 24th. After winning the Super Jr. then dethroning Devitt yesterday, this is a potential banana skin for Ibushi, as Devitt will be desperate to reclaim the belt he held for a year.

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2011″, 7/24/11
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Prince Devitt

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Yuji Nagata failed to follow up on winning All Japan’s Champion Carnival by winning the Triple Crown at All Japan’s own Sumo Hall show today. He challenged a man he defeated during the Carnival, Suwama, in a gripping match. Nagata won both the New Japan Cup and Champion Carnival this year but failed to beat either Tanahashi or Suwama in the subsequent title matches he earned from winning the tournaments.

AJPW “PRO WRESTLING LOVE IN RYOGOKU VOL.12″, 6/19/11
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
8,000 Fans

- Triple Crown: Suwama (c) beat Yuji Nagata (30:13) with a backdrop hold (4th defense).