AJPW New Year's Eve 2024: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Marino Saihara and Natsuki defeated Akuto and Riko Fukunaga in an Actwres Time attraction on All Japan's 2024 New Year's Eve program. The official AJPW event listing credits Natsuki with pinning Fukunaga following Midnight Sun at 9:42. Another published report recorded the match at 9:37, so the official promotion timing is preferable for the canonical event record. The pairing brought women's wrestling guests to a show largely built around All Japan's heavyweight programs and year-end special matches.

This was a pre-show or cross-promotional inclusion, not a GAORA TV or Triple Crown championship defense. The visiting participants and the named finishing move provide its clearest archival value. The time discrepancy should not be hidden by inventing a consensus clock, nor does it change the winner or fall. For a reader watching the complete year-end presentation, the bout supplies variety before the numbered AJPW matches begin. It has modest standalone weight but deserves an accurate record of the official result.

Yuko Miyamoto, Seigo Tachibana and Fuminori Abe defeated MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka and Taishin Nagao in 12:29 during All Japan's New Year's Eve 2024 card. Abe forced Nagao to submit with a Manji-gatame, or octopus hold, supplying the deciding finish. The six-man put a group of junior-heavyweight competitors into the early part of the program, providing a more conventional wrestling contest after the Actwres Time crossover opener. Miyamoto and Tachibana brought their own title and faction histories into the pairing.

The match did not change a championship or alter the much larger heavyweight main-event picture. Its placement mattered because the rest of the night contained a special rumble, a fan-judged novelty match and several important matches involving wrestlers returning from injury or defending belts. Nagao took the deciding submission, while MUSASHI and Yoshioka lost as partners rather than by direct individual falls. Keeping the separate trios and the finish intact allows the review to function as a reliable reference for the wider roster.

Suwama won the 2024 Zennichi New Year's Eve Rumble in 24:02 by eliminating Minoru Suzuki last. The official field grew from a planned ten participants to eleven after Ultimo Dragon was added as an emergency entrant. Other wrestlers included Shotaro Ashino, Hartley Jackson, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan and Hideki Suzuki, giving the annual novelty match a mixture of heavyweight regulars and special guests. Suwama's last elimination supplied a recognizable veteran-versus-veteran climax rather than an anonymous over-the-top-rope finish.

No Triple Crown title or Royal Road trophy changed hands in the rumble. Its significance came from the year-end tradition and the opportunity to bring a wide variety of wrestling personalities together on one card. The expanded field is important in match indexing: treating the eleven-person contest as a ten-person rumble would omit an officially documented participant. The match provided lighter entertainment before the evening shifted to serious singles and tag championship concerns, making it a worthwhile selective rewatch for fans of the promotion's annual rituals.

Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Dan Tamura in 15:30 with a short-range lariat at All Japan's New Year's Eve 2024 show. Tamura had been gaining experience against seasoned heavyweights, including matches that ended without a decisive fall. Sekimoto presented a different test because his power and established reputation made a clear loss plausible without diminishing the younger wrestler's potential. The length gave Tamura the opportunity to work a meaningful singles contest rather than simply absorb an immediate defeat.

The bout was not connected to the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship switch that closed the evening, and it didn't award tournament points. Its value for the event was to give two distinct generations a serious wrestling attraction between the rumble and the more elaborate year-end programs. Sekimoto's win reinforced his standing as a hard-hitting veteran, while Tamura's participation continued his development on a major card. The result is an actual pinfall victory rather than another protected draw, making the finish especially relevant when tracing Tamura's recent record.

Hokuto Omori, Cyrus and Jack Kennedy defeated Rei Saito, Naruki Doi and Senor Saito in 11:33 during All Japan's 52nd Kohaku Pro Wrestling Battle at its 2024 year-end event. Omori scored the deciding pin over Senor Saito after the Narcissist Press, so the official in-ring win belonged to Omori's team. The audience judgment, however, awarded the ceremonial Red Team victory to Rei Saito, Doi and Senor Saito. Those were two distinct outcomes built into a specialty match rather than contradictory results from different sources.

The unusual arrangement made this attraction a departure from ordinary tag-team competition. Neither the crowd decision nor the pinfall changed a championship belt, and the match's placement between conventional contests helped vary the program's tone. It is essential to preserve the official pin and the separate fan-vote decision when indexing the event, because selecting only one would misstate its format. The participants brought recognizable roster personalities, but the fun of the event concept was the main appeal rather than a title advancement.

Ryuki Honda and Ren Ayabe defeated Yuma Aoyagi and Atsuki Aoyagi in 20:42 at All Japan's New Year's Eve 2024 event. The most important development was Atsuki's first match after roughly ten months recovering from a major knee injury involving the ACL, meniscus and MCL. He returned alongside his brother Yuma, giving the comeback an emotionally relevant team setting. Honda pinned Atsuki following Final Vent, delivering a competitive outcome for the younger heavyweight partnership rather than a ceremonial victory for the returning wrestler.

The lengthy match allowed Atsuki to participate in an actual featured contest instead of a protected thirty-second appearance. Losing did not undo the significance of returning to the ring, although it left him with work ahead as his career resumed in the following year. Honda and Ayabe gained a real team win on a major card, continuing their roles in All Japan's evolving heavyweight picture. No championship changed hands, and the return should not be misrepresented as an immediate successful defense by either Aoyagi brother.

Rising HAYATO and Yuma Anzai defeated Kento Miyahara and Ryo Inoue in 21:57 to retain the All Asia Tag Team Championship at All Japan's 2024 year-end show. Anzai pinned Inoue after the Gimlet, giving the defending team its second successful title defense. Miyahara brought the most famous singles résumé into the challenger pairing, but the finish spared him a direct fall while recognizing the younger champions' progress. The title remained with HAYATO and Anzai rather than transferring to Miyahara and Inoue.

The match occupied the spot immediately before the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship main event, giving the secondary tag title a substantial platform. Its runtime allowed a detailed encounter against a difficult challenger team, not merely a short reminder that the champions existed. The result also connected contemporary All Japan talent with the promotion's longest-serving leading star. The All Asia Tag title must be distinguished from the World Tag Team Championship and from the Triple Crown change later in the show; all three belong to separate lineages.

Jun Saito defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. in 21:47 to win the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship at All Japan's 2024 New Year's Eve event. Saito finished with the Psycho Break and became the seventy-fifth recognized champion, ending Smith's reign before the incumbent recorded a successful defense. The winner had just completed an undefeated World's Strongest Tag Determination League campaign with his brother Rei, giving his first major singles title a powerful connection to the team's success earlier in December.

The outcome was historically important even if contemporary match reviews were divided over how effectively the in-ring drama unfolded. Saito's win didn't transfer the World Tag Team belts, which were already held by the brothers, but it made him a double champion across the promotion's leading singles and tag divisions. His subsequent seven successful Triple Crown defenses gave this moment extra weight in retrospect. For the event archive, the precise pinfall, title change and relationship to the earlier league result make the main event indispensable to All Japan's 2024-25 championship history.