Stardom wrestler Saya Kamitani has made history in the 2025 Tokyo Sports Awards, becoming the first female to be named MVP.
The award winners were unveiled today with Kamitani taking the top prize. She follows Zack Sabre Jr., Tetsuya Naito, Kazuchika Okada, and Shingo Takagi as the most recent winners.
Kamitani is the current NJPW Strong Women’s Champion and World of Stardom Champion. Speaking in character, Kamitani said she shattered all preconceptions by becoming the first female to win this award. She vowed to take pro wrestling to new heights that cannot be imagined.
A double title match featuring Kamitani is scheduled for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4. It will be Kamitani vs. Syuri in a match where the Strong Women’s Championship and IWGP Women’s Championship are both on the line.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, who is set to retire at the January 4 Tokyo Dome show, finished second in MVP voting but was recognized through winning the Technique Award.
The Tokyo Sports awards have existed for five-plus decades now and are considered very important to the legacy of wrestlers in Japan. Here is the full list of this year’s winners:
Tokyo Sports Awards 2025 —
MVP: Saya Kamitani
Best Match: OZAWA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya from NOAH The New Year 2025
Women’s MVP: Saya Kamitani
Outstanding Performer: Konosuke Takeshita
Fighting Spirit Award: Sareee
Technique Award: Hiroshi Tanahashi
Best Tag Team: Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)
Rookie of the Year: Kaisei Takechi of DDT Pro Wrestling
Special Topic Award: Teppei Arita of the comedy duo Cream Stew for his pro wrestling YouTube channel
In recognition of the stellar year he had in 2024, Zack Sabre Jr. has received one of the biggest honors in Japanese pro wrestling.
Tokyo Sports unveiled its annual award winners on Tuesday with Sabre receiving the MVP Award. The awards have existed for five decades now, and this is only the second time a non-Japanese wrestler has been named MVP. Bob Sapp was the first in 2022.
Sabre said he’s really pleased to win the award and believes that this was the best year he’s ever had in his career. His goal was to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and enter Wrestle Kingdom 19 as champion — and he has accomplished that. Sabre will defend the title against Shota Umino in the main event of the January 4 Tokyo Dome show. At Wrestle Dynasty the next day, Sabre is set to wrestle Ricochet. The IWGP World Heavyweight title will be on the line if Sabre is still champion.
This is the first World title reign Sabre has had in NJPW. He won the G1 Climax this summer and then dethroned Tetsuya Naito for the belt.
“Of all the things I set out to achieve this year, I thought Tokyo Sports MVP was the hardest to attain,” Sabre said. He noted that this is one of the greatest achievements not just of his career but of his life.
Naito was the Tokyo Sports MVP for 2023, the third time he’s won the award. Other recent winners include Kazuchika Okada, Shingo Takagi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Tokyo Sports is a long-running magazine and online publication. Their awards are considered important to the legacy of wrestlers in Japan.
Here is the full list of winners for 2024:
MVP: Zack Sabre Jr.
Best Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Hirooki Goto in the New Japan Cup final
Women’s Grand Prize: Sareee
Outstanding Performer: Yuma Anzai
Fighting Spirit Award: Kaito Kiyomiya
Technique Award: Shinya Aoki
Best Tag Team: The Saito Brothers (Rei & Jun Saito)
Tokyo Sports has revealed its award winners for 2023.
The complete list of winners was announced on Tuesday. The awards have been presented annually since 1974, with Dave Meltzer noting that they are the most talked about pro wrestling awards in Japan and are historically the most important as far as legacy for Japanese wrestlers.
Tetsuya Naito was named the recipient of the 2023 MVP Award. This is the fourth time that Naito has won MVP in his career. He also took home the award in 2016, 2017, and 2020.
Naito was the winner of this year’s NJPW G1 Climax tournament. At Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4, he’s challenging SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Here are all of this year’s Tokyo Sports Award winners:
MVP: Tetsuya Naito
Best Match: The Great Muta vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Women’s Grand Prize: Tam Nakano
Outstanding Performer: Hiromu Takahashi
Fighting Spirit Award: Kenoh
Technique Award: Yuma Aoyagi
Best Tag Team: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
Rookie of the Year: The Saito Brothers (Rei & Jun Saito)
NJPW’s English-language website published in-character comments from Naito, Goto & YOSHI-HASHI, and Takahashi about their wins.
Goto said he’s “hugely happy” about winning a Tokyo Sports Award for the first time.
“Thank you for this award. Apropos of nothing, I’ve been doing this 20 years now, and this is my first award, so I’m hugely happy,” Goto said. “I’m very grateful to my partner Yoh-chan, and to all the fans for their support. Bishamon will keep tearing it up in the wrestling world.”
F4W NEWSLETTER: Rey Mysterio’s US title win Joseph Currier looks at how WWE has started to use the legendary Mysterio to his full potential.
After periods of not being used as well as he should have been, it seems like Rey Mysterio’s legendary career may get the dream final stretch that it deserves.
Mysterio was at the center of a great moment on last week’s post-Survivor Series edition of Raw. With Humberto Carrillo being attacked by The O.C. before his scheduled title shot, Mysterio won two straight matches to become United States Champion. He defeated Ricochet, Randy Orton, and Drew McIntyre in a number one contender’s fatal four-way match and then beat AJ Styles to win the US title.
Mysterio pinned Ricochet to get the immediate title shot against Styles. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson had interfered when Orton had the fatal four-way won, and Orton then helped Mysterio even the odds a bit when The O.C. got involved in the title match. Orton took out Gallows and Anderson, gave Styles an RKO after Mysterio hit the 619, and Mysterio followed up with a frog splash to win the title. Mysterio then celebrated in the ring with his son Dominik.
A look at plans as they are for the WWE’s TLC PPV is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We look at what was on the boards this week for the card, ways it may change, why zero matches had been announced nine days before the show and Vince McMahon’s philosophy regarding PPV shows these days. The new issue also covers:
Issues with ROH, from its concussion policy, to its relationship with New Japan, with comments from both Joe Koff and Harold Meij. We look at the claims regarding a concussion policy, why ROH cut off negotiations with women’s champion Kelly Klein after first offering her more than double of her prior contract and more.
The economics of WWE, PPV vs Network and which would have been better, Orlando wants big shows, Ciampa says he’d rather retire than move to the main roster, why he said it, changes with WWE Network, TV ratings in Canada and Germany, new WWE fire, WWE in sports survey, NXT the next two weeks, Raw announcing, Carmella tarts new business, stock value, most-watched shows on WWE Network, as well as a rundown of all the weekend arena dates.
New Japan tag team tournament matches of the past week.
AAA’s TripleMania Regia, the big angle shot, the usage of rival CMLL’s old heel stable, plus the return of Kenny Omega, as well as hopes to use more AEW talent on major shows coming up. We also have match-by-match coverage.
History of Starrcade, how it started, the roles of key people like Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Harley Race and Dory Funk Jr. We look at every main event in Starrcade history, and how Vince McMahon tried and failed to sabotage the first show, but succeeded in sabotaging the fifth show. We look at how Starrcade came to be, the match in 1983 that created the first Starrcade, the Flair vs. Race program and how it was built, the Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine angle, what killed wrestling on Thanksgiving, plus a rundown of Sunday’s show in Atlanta.
Preview of Tito Ortiz vs. Alberto El Patron, how Combate Americas came into this world, Campbell McLaren’s role in the birth of MMA, how Alberto got into pro wrestling, his MMA career before WWE, why he was not allowed to fight on the Los Angeles Coliseum show and the realities of this fight as a PPV from a business standpoint.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
Addtional notes by Joseph Currier
WWE
WWE Backstage tonight will feature the return of CM Punk. Also on the show tonight is King Corbin as as well as Offset of The Migos, who will take part in the Promo School segment.
People Magazine interviewed Ronda Rousey, who said the door is open to a WWE return but is focused on her family right now: “Right now, I think my family needs my undivided attention. I’m happy to give them that. But I’m trying to figure out a way or a system or somehow that I could give both my family and WWE the best of me and not be half ass in both.”
The jobber from last night’s Erick Rowan squash on Raw was Tracer X, who also appeared on this past Friday’s episode of 205 Live, losing to Tony Nese.
Matt Hardy tweeted today: “I needed to return to @WWE to finish in the right way. I didn’t want 2010 to be my finale. I returned in the most EPIC way & repaid my debt. I waved the #WWE flag with pride & worked hard to be a model employee. My conscience is clear & I am at peace.”
Pro Wrestling
Tokyo Sports announced their annual awards today. Kazuchika Okada took the top honor of MVP of the Year for the fourth time, previously winning in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Antonio Inoki holds the record with six wins. The winners of this year’s awards are:
MVP: Kazuchika Okada (NJPW)
Best Bout: Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA from NJPW King of Pro Wrestling
Best Tag Team: Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa (AJPW)
Outstanding Performance: Kento Miyahara (AJPW)
Technique: Kota Ibushi (NJPW)
Rookie: Strong Machine J (Dragon Gate)
Women: Mayu Iwatami (Stardom)
Fox News host Britt McHenry has filed a lawsuit against both the network and former co-host Tyrus. The lawsuit says that the network has refused to investigate her claims of sexual harassment and have targeted her instead of Tyrus.
Kenny Omega says he is leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling.
In a new article on Tokyo Sport’s website, Omega says following his loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 13, he needs to take time away. The article also mentions that he is likely to go to either All Elite Wrestling or WWE.
“There is no real place for me to fit, so it’s best for me not to be in (NJPW),” Omega is quoted as saying. “I can’t be there working under Tanahashi. I don’t think he’s surpassed me, don’t think he’s better. If we can, I want to face him again. But I need time away, and not just from New Japan.”
His departure comes as the most of the Elite stable are leaving the promotion to start All Elite Wrestling. Cody, The Young Bucks and Hangman Page all lost their respective matches at Wrestle Kingdom and did not appear the following day at New Year’s Dash. Marty Scurll remains under ROH contract.
Omega’s contract with NJPW expires at the end of the month.
A multi-promotional event featuring a number of high profile Japanese promotions will take place next February.
Tokyo Sports announced this morning that Wrestling All-Star Battle will go down on February 19 at Sumo Hall. It will feature wrestlers from All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Wrestle-1. Broadcasting information for the event isn’t currently known, nor were any matches announced.
The event is in commemoration of two events: the 20th anniversary of Giant Baba’s death (which took place on January 31, 1999) as well as the 60th anniversary of Tokyo Sports itself.
The last Wrestling All-Star Battle took place in August of 1979. On that show, Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki, who teamed for years before a split led to the eventual founding of both AJPW and NJPW, teamed for the last time. They defeated Abdullah the Butcher and Tiger Jeet Singh.
