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Preview: DDT/NOAH/TJPW/Ganbare — CyberFight Festival 2022 (6/12/22)

Go Shiozaki vs. Satoshi Kojima CyberFight Festival

June 12, 2022, is the second annual CyberFight Festival as Ganbare Pro Wrestling, DDT Pro Wrestling, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling NOAH join up once more for this big event. Lots of big cross-promotional matches are set with both the Princess of Princess Championship and the GHC Heavyweight Championship on the line to close out the show.

Editor Note: Xavier Williams and Scott Edwards split the duties in this preview with Xavier discussing the NOAH/DDT matches and Scott discussing the major matches on the TJPW side.

CyberFight Festival 2022 Lineup

— Muscle Sakai and Yukio Naya vs. Soma Takao and Kazuzki Hirata
— Hyper Misao, Yuki Aino, YuuRI, Pom Harajuku, and Haruna Neko vs. Nao Kakuta, Mahiro Kiryu, Moka Miyamoto, Arisu Endo, and Kaya Toribami
— Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai, and Hideki Okatani vs. Ken Ohka, Mizuki Watase, and Yuna Manase
— Kinya Okada and Kai Fujimura vs. Toi Kojima and Yuya Koroku
— Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh, and Juria Nagano vs. Hikari Noa, Suzume, and Yuki Arai
— Yuki Ino, Yumehito Imanari, Danshoku Dieno, and AKITO vs. Shinya Aoki, Sanshiro Takagi, Yumiko Hotta, and Kendo Kashin
— Princess of Princess Championship No. 1 Contender: Rika Tatsumi vs. Mizuki vs. Yuki Kamifuku vs. Miu Watanabe
— Takashi Sugiura, Kazyuki Fujita, Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba, and Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Michael Elgin, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Rene Dupree, Simon Gotch, and Timothy Thatcher
— HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura, Masahiro Takanashi, and Chris Brookes vs. Shunma Katsumata, Yuki Ueno, MAO, and ASUKA
— Rob Van Dam, Yoshinari Ogawa, and HAYATA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada, and YO-HEY
— Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, and Kazusada Higuchi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Atsushi Kotoge, and Yoshiki Inamura
— Kenoh vs. Daisuke Sasaki
— Princess of Princess Championship: Shoko Nakajima (c) vs. Yuka Sakazaki
— GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima

Princess of Princess Championship No. 1 Contender: Rika Tatsumi vs. Mizuki vs. Yuki Kamifuku vs. Miu Watanabe

The Princess of Princess Championship will be on the line in the semi-main event but earlier in the night, a new challenger will be decided. The four participants in the match include former Princess of Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi, one-half of the Princess Tag Team Champions Mizuki, former International Princess Champion Yuki Kamifuku, and rising star Miu Watanabe. The immediate favorites once the match was announced were Tatsumi or Mizuki. It was a year ago that Tatsumi lost her Princess of Princess Championship to Miyu Yamashita and hasn’t had an opportunity to get it back since then. While many credit Yamashita for being the best all-around wrestler in TJPW, Tatsumi is right there with her and could prove it on the big stage.

Mizuki is an interesting one. She hasn’t had the singles success in terms of winning championship gold but is a two-time Tokyo Princess Cup winner. She’s seen as a future champion and winning this match could bring her one step closer to making that a reality. Kamifuku has mostly focused on tag team action since losing her International Princess Championship in 2021. Teaming with VENY, they became one of the beloved duos in TJPW. This is her chance, however, to get back on track in getting singles success. And then there’s Watanabe. She doesn’t have the same accolades as her opponents but feels as though she’s one major win away from being in the conversation. Watanabe has an opportunity here to show what she’s made of as one of the best young stars in Joshi wrestling.

It’s a coin flip but the former Princess of Princess Champion has an edge. — SE

Prediction: Rika Tatsumi

Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, and Kazusada Higuchi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Atsushi Kotoge, and Yoshiki Inamura

One of the two big NOAH vs DDT matches on this show and there are plenty of cross-promotional battles up and down the card. However, this one heated up with the injury to Naomichi Marufuji and the entry of Katsuhiko Nakajima. Nakajima started targeting everyone including his own teammates. Jun Akiyama said that he was worried for Atsushi Kotoge hence why he visited NOAH’s Korakuen as a spectator. Tetsuya Endo’s original goal was to take down Marufuji. While Kazusada Higuchi has found himself beefing with fellow former Sumo, Yoshiki Inamura.

Them wanting to defeat each other rose to another level when Nakajima replaced Marufuji. Slapping Kotoge, and begging for him to use his fire to take out Akiyama and leave the rest to him. Also wanting Inamura to come alive, this match could be one of the best trios matches all year. NOAH’s lack of any attempt to elevate Yoshiki Inamura points him out as the obvious fall guy in the end. — XW

Prediction: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, and Kazusada Higuchi

Kenoh vs. Daisuke Sasaki

This match came about really from Kenoh’s pure hatred of DDT and Sanshiro Takagi. He came to a DDT event in search of a singles match with Takagi. Daisuke Sasaki instead asked why did he want Takagi when he could face the top wrestler in DDT. Of course, he was referring to himself. Kenoh agreed with Sasaki but says he was corrupted by the DDT system. Eventually, the two traded attacks with Kenoh hitting Sasaki with a flaming kick, and Sasaki attacking him with a stun gun. Kenoh had enough and demanded they have a hardcore match.

It seemed like the normal Kenoh vs DDT match until DDT dropped an interview with Daisuke Sasaki. Kenoh picks apart DDT for being a joke and an indie, and Sasaki has been the one person to retaliate with malice. For nine minutes, Sasaki ripped apart Pro Wrestling NOAH, their style, and company from the inside and out. Even going as far as to say they’re not needed in CyberFight which poured the extra gasoline needed for this fire. Just days before this one-on-one war, It’s hard to say which way this goes, but Kenoh may very well finally get the one up on DDT. — XW

Prediction: Kenoh

Princess of Princess Championship: Shoko Nakajima (c) vs. Yuka Sakazaki

For the second-straight CyberFight Festival in a row, Yuka Sakazaki will challenge for the Princess of Princess Championship. This time she will face the champion Shoko Nakajima, who has been on a roll since beating Miyu Yamashita for the gold at Grand Princess. The match between these two will be the first since Nov. 3, 2019, when Sakazaki defeated Nakajima to win the Princess of Princess Championship. With that statistic alone, it will be interesting to see how Nakajima attacks this match while knowing Sakazaki has had her number. “The Big Kaiju” made it her mission to challenge Sakazaki herself with the goal of righting that wrong but seeing Sakazaki has shown a more vicious side in 2022, it could be the deciding factor in their match.

“The Magical Girl” is a two-time Princess of Princess Champion and is as decorated as they come in TJPW. She’s currently one-half of the Princess Tag Team Champions with Mizuki as the Magical Sugar Rabbits and has shown zero signs of slowing down anytime soon. Sakazaki’s overall strength and physicality which she’s highlighted more so this year could bring her a third Princess of Princess Championship reign, tying her with Miyu Yamashita for the most all-time.

Much like the main event, this match can go either way. No matter who does win, it should be one of the best TJPW matches of the year. “The Big Kaiju” is ready to defend. — SE

Prediction: Shoko Nakajima

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima

Go Shiozaki won the vacant GHC Heavyweight Championship in a battle with Kaito Kiyomiya. He was soon then challenged by that night’s X, Satoshi Kojima. The match was so big that it was set for the main event of CyberFight Festival. There’s a weight on both men’s shoulders to come away from this match with a victory. As Shiozaki has to protect his throne and company from an outsider who’s signed to another company. While Satoshi Kojima wants his shot at history. He wants to be the fourth man ever to be IWGP Heavyweight, Triple Crown, and GHC Heavyweight Champion.

During the lead up these two have absolutely gone at one another during their tags. Trading wins back and forth, as Shiozaki defiantly says he won’t surrender the belt. While Kojima claims that he believes he can beat Shiozaki and the fans want to see him capture the belt. Kojima has been sensational during this run, despite being early on in his 50s, he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. Not only that he’s interested in doing more shows with NOAH, and has been very vocal about his admiration for the younger wrestlers in the company. For that reason, we believe Kojima making history might be closing CyberFight Festival. With a guy as selfless as Kojima, anybody can beat him and he’d gladly help elevate them. Plus who knows if this Shiozaki run would even happen if Kazuyuki Fujita didn’t have to vacate. — XW

Prediction: Satoshi Kojima

More from LWOS Pro Wrestling

Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can watch Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT, TJPW, and more on Wrestle Universe. 

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