According to wrestlingdata.com, a total of 190 title changes have taken place on this date across promotions around the world. Here is a look at some of the bigger championship changes tied to June 5th:
Title changes on June 5th
Year
Championship
New champion(s)
1975
Mexican National Lightweight Title
Tauro
1989
All Asia Tag Team Titles
Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas
1990
All Asia Tag Team Titles
Akira Taue & Shin’ichi Nakano
1990
AJPW Unified Triple Crown Heavyweight Title
Terry Gordy
1995
CMLL World Mini-Estrellas Title
Fili Estrella
1998
Mexican National Minis Title
Mini Abismo Negro
1998
IWGP Tag Team Titles
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono
2000
WCW Hardcore Title
Eric Bischoff
2001
WWF World Light Heavyweight Title
Jeff Hardy
2003
WWE Cruiserweight Title
Rey Mysterio
2004
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Gedo & Jado
2004
IWGP Heavyweight Title
Kazuyuki Fujita
2005
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Takashi Sugiura & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
2019
IWGP United States Heavyweight Title
Jon Moxley
Early title changes (1975-1990)
The earliest June 5th entry comes from 1975, when Tauro captured the Mexican National Lightweight Title. The All Asia Tag Team Titles changed hands on this date in back-to-back years, first to Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas in 1989, then to Akira Taue and Shin’ichi Nakano in 1990. Terry Gordy also won the AJPW Unified Triple Crown Heavyweight Title in ’90.
Lucha libre and Japan (1995-1998)
Fili Estrella won the CMLL World Mini-Estrellas Title in 1995, and Mini Abismo Negro claimed the Mexican National Minis Title in 1998. Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono teamed up to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles in New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the same year.
The 2000s: hardcore, cruiserweights, and IWGP gold
In 2000, Eric Bischoff won the WCW Hardcore Title. Jeff Hardy won the WWF World Light Heavyweight Title in 2001, and Rey Mysterio captured the WWE Cruiserweight Title in 2003.
New Japan had two title changes in 2004: Gedo and Jado won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, while Kazuyuki Fujita claimed the IWGP Heavyweight Title.
Recent title changes (2005-2019)
In 2005, Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles in Pro Wrestling NOAH. The most recent entry came in 2019, when Jon Moxley captured the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title.
All Japan Pro Wrestling has made a late change to its Champion Carnival tournament.
The 2026 Champion Carnival is set to begin in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall on Sunday, April 12.
On Wednesday, the promotion announced that Cyrus will no longer be participating in the tournament. According to a statement from AJPW, the company has been unable to contact Cyrus and later discovered that he had canceled his scheduled flight ahead of the tour.
AJPW’s statement reads (translated):
“Regarding Cyrus, who had been scheduled to appear at ‘Champion Carnival 2026’ starting April 12 (Sunday) at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, we regret to inform you that it has been decided he will be absent from the entire series.”
The statement continues:
“After reaching a contractual agreement, we announced his participation and proceeded with preparations for his arrival in Japan, including visa arrangements.
However, we were subsequently unable to make contact with him. Today, when we asked his agent to confirm his flight with the airline, it was discovered that the flight he was scheduled to board had been canceled by Cyrus himself.
As of now, we have received no report from him regarding the cancellation of the flight, and as a result, we have determined that it will be difficult for him to participate in ‘Champion Carnival 2026.’”
AJPW has said a replacement for Cyrus will be announced at a press conference on Thursday.
All Japan Pro Wrestling star Yuma Aoyagi is getting back into the ring after completing a three-month suspension.
In November 2025, AJPW announced that Aoyagi had been suspended three months with a 50 percent reduction in pay for his role in a traffic accident that occurred after one of the promotion’s events. Aoyagi was not injured in the accident, but someone in the vehicle he struck was treated for a leg injury. It was determined that Aoyagi, who was driving on an expired license, had caused the accident by failing to notice a red light.
The promotion confirmed today that Aoyagi’s suspension and pay reduction were lifted as of March 1. He will return on March 15 for a pre-show match against Hideki Suzuki at Korakuen Hall.
“We deeply apologize for the significant inconvenience caused to those affected by this incident, to the fans who support and cheer for All Japan Pro Wrestling, to our sponsor companies, and to all related parties,” AJPW said in a statement. “Moving forward, we will redouble our efforts to prevent recurrence by providing renewed guidance and education to all our affiliated wrestlers. This includes reinforcing their awareness as professional athletes and ensuring they conduct themselves with discipline as responsible members of society, so as never to betray the trust of those who support All Japan Pro-Wrestling.”
AJPW’s announcement also included a statement from Aoyagi apologizing for the accident.
“I sincerely apologize for the immense trouble caused to the victim, all fans, organizations, sponsors, and everyone involved,” Aoyagi said. “This incident occurred due to my lack of awareness as a professional wrestler and as a member of society, and I deeply regret it.
“Moving forward, I will focus on each task before me and strive to rebuild trust. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have continued to support me, as well as to all related parties, and once again offer my deepest apologies.”
Aoyagi is a former Triple Crown and Tag Team Champion for AJPW.
The Big Audio Nightmare is back as Adam Summers & Mike Sempervive review NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20, look back at the end of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s legendary career, and take a look the major shows from Stardom, Pro Wrestling NOAH, TJPW, Marigold, and All-Japan Pro Wrestling.
AJPW star Yuma Aoyagi has been suspended by the promotion for three months and given a temporary reduction in pay due to his role in a recent traffic accident.
On Wednesday, AJPW held a press conference to address a car accident that Aoyagi was involved in on November 23. It was announced that Aoyagi has been suspended for three months and will have his pay reduced by 50 percent for that same amount of time. The punishments run through February 28, 2026.
The accident happened on Sunday when Aoyagi was driving home after an AJPW event. Failing to notice a red light, Aoyagi drove through and collided with another vehicle. Aoyagi was not injured, but someone in the other car is being treated for a leg injury.
“Yuma was driving home in his personal vehicle around 4:30 p.m. on the 23rd after the All Japan Pro Wrestling event in Numazu when he failed to notice a red light at an intersection in Numazu City and proceeded straight through,” Tokyo Sports wrote. “He collided with a vehicle traveling straight from the right, causing the accident. The accident damaged the right side of Yuma’s vehicle and damaged the bumper and lights of the other vehicle involved in the collision. Yuma was uninjured, but one of the two occupants of the other vehicle is currently undergoing examination at a hospital due to leg discomfort.”
It was found that Aoyagi’s license had been expired for almost a year. In response, AJPW has checked the license expiration dates of all wrestlers and staff and issued a warning about driving safely.
Aoyagi — a former Triple Crown and Tag Team Champion for AJPW — attended today’s press conference and issued an apology to the victim, AJPW fans, and all involved parties.
Due to Aoyagi’s suspension, he and Yuma Anzai will forfeit all of their remaining matches in the AJPW Real World Tag League 2025 tournament.
The Big Audio Nightmare is back with a solo express edition of the podcast featuring Adam Summers, looking at the latest news in the very busy world of Japanese professional wrestling.
Topics include:
Go Shiozaki jumps to All-Japan Pro Wrestling
Pro Wrestling NOAH’s post-OZAWA injury attendance woes
*AEW moves PPV to HBO MAX , details of the move, programming changes, All Out time move, All Out card and ticket sales.
*The worst week of TV ratings you can imagine. Each show broken down into all the details.*Clash in Paris coverage, business ntes *Changes in Nielsen ratings and how this will affect sports sooner and later *CMLL World Grand Prix with an 82:00 main event. *Bandido vs. Hechicero is one of the best matches of 2025. *ROH coverage including problems with the streaming. *Early reviews on Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson *A look at the debut of Real American Freestyle *Nick Hogan sued Bubba the Love Sponge, what he is suing over and the first court ruling comes in. *The legend of Buford Pusser, a former pro wrestler who became a famous pop culture figure with movies and a TV show about him, and now it comes out that he may have murdered his wife. *The Hall of Fame case for Steve Grey. *CMLL with multiple sellouts coming up. *Who is now in charge of AAA. *What’s notable about the makeup of who is in charge. *Update on Raja Johnson and Syco Stu *Ronda Rousey with her thoughts on WWE tenure. *Updates on Matt Riddle. *One of the biggest indie crowds of the year in Atlanta this past week. *Upcoming ticket sales to all the WWE, AEW and TNA shows over the next few months. *Notes on a new AAA signing. *What fighter just got a $10 million payout over a lawsuit settlement *Jon Jones cawse update *Chael Sonnen crosses Rick Rude and The Grappler . *How much is TKO worth. *How much is Dwayne Johnson’s TK stock worth *Notes on the movie Street Fighter and the character named after a pro wrestler.
— Our weekend show with Garrett Gonzales talking about the new Nielsen ratings and what will and won’t be covered and why it’s happening, the worst week of ratings in modern pro wrestling, all the politics and the cards of September 20th, Netflix keeping commercials in the show and coming up with data pretending they don’t, the reason John Cena’s retirement won’t be in Boston and more. Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about the weekend news.
— Tokyo Dome tickets for Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final match on 1/4 were put on sale to foreigners for $750 each. We don’t know the allotment or what this means, but in 15 minutes, the entire allotment had sold out.
— Arena Mexico drew a big crowd on Friday but wasn’t sold out for Mistico & Bandido vs. Angel de Oro & Hechicero.
— Regarding the story about Gunnar Wiedenfels, the head of the future Discovery Global branch of the future WBD split (the one that will own the TV stations), and the sports app for everything under the TNT Sports banner, when this story first broke we had checked about it and were told that AEW has a contract with HBO Max through the end of 2027, so this would not apply to AEW, which is listed as sorts on HBO Max but in actuality is not considered part of TNT Sports.
— Very sorry to hear about the death of Jonathan Echevarria of Beyond Wrestling and other groups, best known as Jaka, who passed away at the age of 39 after suffering a heart attack last weekend. He had been wrestling for 18 years and was very well loved.
— Regarding the news of the death of Taishin Nagao, who was run over by the tour bus accidentally months ago. He had been in a coma for months. The extent of his injuries had been kept secret by All Japan. People didn’t know how bad the situation was, even the Japanese wrestlers. Before the news got out yesterday, the All Japan locker room was told they were taking him off life support.
— Rodolfo Ruiz, a former two-time Mexican national lightweight champion in the 60s and father of Averno, passed away today at the age of 86. When I started following wrestling, Ruiz was considered one of the best lightweights in the world. He debuted in 1962 and held the lightweight title in 1965 and again 1969-71. He was also UWA featherweight champion as late as 1990. He was later a CMLL referee through 2011. He had long since retired in 1999 when he came back to Arena Mexico at the age of 60 for a match with Blue Panther.
— Averno was scheduled for tonight’s main event at Arena Mexico.
— The All Japan Oudou tournament comes down to Ren Ayabe vs. Ryuki Honda and Kento Miyahara vs. Daisuke Sekimoto. The semifinals and finals will be on the 9/15 show at Korakuen Hall.
— Stardom yesterday had a PPV in Yokohama with Saya Kamitani retaining the World of Stardom title over Bea Priestley, Starlight Kid retaining the Wonder of Stardom title over Tomoka Inaba and Sareee retaining the IWGP women’s title over Suzu Suzuki.
— Benny Saldie was given the award for Best Director at the 2025 Vince Film Festival in Italy for “Smashing Machine,” the movie starring Dwayne Johnson that is getting Oscar buzz.
— Announced for Dynamite on Wednesday is Ricochet vs. Shelton Benjamin, Mercedes Mone & Emi Sakura vs. Riho & Alex Windsor, Toni Storm vs. Skye Blue in a street fight and Adam Page vs. Josh Alexander in a non-title match.
— Raw tomorrow night from Milwaukee is the first show of the year against Monday Night Football. It starts at 8 p.m., the regular time. AJ Lee will be there to help set up the CM Punk & Lee vs. Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch match. Also AJ Styles vs. Grande Americano, Tyra Valkyrie vs. Raquel Rodriguez and the Usos back together.
— Also on last night’s show they teased a Big Bill vs. Eddie Kingston match, so Kingston is returning soon.
— So if the rating of Dynamite wasn’t strange enough setting an unbelievable record low of 472,000 viewers and 0.11, when it aired on Friday in the U.K. it drew the highest number for a live episode of the show since February and was up 103 percent from the same week last year. While U.K. ratings vary too much to take individual numbers that seriously although I’m sure as a trend they are accurate over long-term, the idea of the same show in the same week doing a terrible number in the U.S. and a tremendous number in the U.K. is something.
— RevPro has announced its biggest undertaking to date. They will run August 29, 2026 at OVO Arena at Wembley, the night before AEW runs at Wembley Stadium. It’s also notable they were able to announce it given WWE has a show in the same building in January for Raw.
— On the night AJ Lee returned to WWE, one of her movies debuted on Hulu. The movie is named “Sacramento,” starring Michael Cera. She played the owner of a wrestling gym and had 10-15 minutes of screen time, credited as AJ Mendes. The movie is available for rent as well through other platforms (thanks to Harold Kruger)
— In Google searches for the weekend, as you can imagine it’s dominated by the NFL and College Football. The Canelo Alvarez vs. Terrence Crawford boxing match this coming Saturday had 50,000 searches. The UFC show yesterday from Paris had 95,000, which is along the lines of the WWE show the previous week.
— Longtime Carolinas wrestler George South turned 63 today. Nora Greenwald aka Molly Holly turned 48. The Great Antonio, who once appeared on “The Tonight Show” and was famous for Rikidozan and later Antonio Inoki beating the hell out of him for real, died on this day 22 years ago at 77.
— We didn’t hear about any killer matches this weekend although we were told the Wrestling Revolver match with Leon Slater, Man Like DeReiss, Marcus Mathers and Ante Leon was said to be very good.
— Josh Barnett announced two former MMA fighters on the 9/28 Bloodsport show in London at the Electric Ballroom. Oli Thomipson, a strongman who has fought in Bellator and UFC and was the pro wrestling IGF world champion faces Chris Bungard from Scotland, who has also fought in Bellator.
— The Team 3D vs. Hardys match at Bound for Glory will be a tables match.
Taishin Nagao, who had just started his career with All Japan Pro Wrestling less than a year ago, has passed away.
AJPW announced on Sunday morning that Nagao, 21, had passed away following injuries sustained after being struck by a tour bus back on May 31. The cause of death is not currently known, with the company stating that his body had been handed over to the police and an investigation is currently underway.
Back in June, the company posted an update writing that he was involved in an accident with a tour bus which resulted in traumatic shock to his abdomen area. At the time, he was receiving treatment in an intensive care unit in critical condition. A month later, AJPW reported that he was continuing to receive treatment and several wrestlers and staff had visited him in the hospital with permission from his parents.
Nagao trained at AJPW’s dojo and made his debut in October of 2024, losing to Ryo Inoue.
Smith defeated Yuma Aoyagi for the belt on November 4 in Sapporo to become the 74th champion in the Triple Crown’s lineage. He was just the seventh foreigner to hold the title, joining Terry Gordy, Stan Hansen, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, Big Van Vader, Taiyo Kea, and Joe Doering.
The win for Saito marks his first major singles championship. He and his twin brother Rei, The Saito Brothers, are the current AJPW World Tag Team Champions.
It’s time for some long form history as this week’s DKK Classic Wrestling Show features a deep dive into November 1984.
The month featured multiple Thanksgiving shows including the second-ever Starrcade from the NWA. Plus, there was lots happening in both NJPW and AJPW, Southeastern Championship Wrestling, WWF continued their march to take over wrestling in the United States, and more.
Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Yuma Aoyagi to win the title today at AJPW Giant Series 2024 in Sapporo. He is now the 74th champion in the title’s history.
The finish saw Aoyagi get near falls off a Fisherman buster and a series of pinning combinations, followed by Smith hitting consecutive Saito suplexes and then his Bulldog Bomb for the win.
Smith is the seventh foreigner to win the AJPW Triple Crown, joining a list that includes Terry Gordy, Stan Hansen, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, Big Van Vader, Taiyo Kea, and Joe Doering.
Aoyagi’s second reign with the title finishes after 79 days and two successful defenses. He defeated the 2023 WON Rookie of the Year, Yuma Anzai, for the belt at AJPW Summer Action Wars in August.
Smith started with AJPW at the end of 2023 and returned for the annual Champion Carnival tournament. He placed second in the A block with a 5-3 record. He signed a deal with the promotion this summer that extends through January and the start of the year shows.
I’m so proud of you @DBSmithjr!!!! Ever since you were a kid, you wanted this. I’m so happy for you and you’ve worked so hard for this.
