Ganbare Pro-Wrestling celebrates its 12th Anniversary just like the company started, as an independent promotion fighting for recognition with all its might. For that anniversary event, titled Mad Max 2025, GanPro will be returning to the famous Korakuen Hall for the first time since leaving CyberFight last year. The fact that they made it back as an independent promotion can itself be considered an occasion for celebration. Fitting for such an event, the announced card features plenty of the emotional impact that sets GanPro apart. We will take a look at all seven matches and the significance behind them all.
HARUKAZE, Hartley Jackson, and Daisuke vs Yasu Urano, PSYCHO, and Banny Oikawa
In the opener, HARUKAZE will be looking for her first victory since the restart of GanPro. Sheis planning to go on hiatus after May 5 2025 and hopes to start that break as a winner. By her side will be her usual tag partner in LETHAL WEAPON, Hartley Jackson, making his return to Ganbare Pro-Wrestling. Always a force in the GanPro ring, Jackson will likely be working hard to help his partner get that validating victory.
Hentai Punch Drunkers (Tyson Maeguchi and Hikaru Sato) vs Munetatsu Nakamura and Toru Sugiura
The first-ever Spirit of Ganbare World Tag Team Champions, Tyson Maeguchi, and Hikaru Sato, collectively known as Hentai Punch Drunkers reunite! When the duo initially won the championships in Korakuen Hall, the belts were not finished yet. Maybe this match can set them on the path to finally hold the physical championships. Their opponents will be Munetatsu Nakamura, presumably looking to build momentum in the venue of his original debut, along with Toru Sugiura, who he met through his recent adventures in FREEDOMS.
Mizuki Watase Return Match: Mizuki Watase, Shigehiro Irie, Rekka, and Chon Shiryu vs Kouki Iwasaki, Shota Kawakami, Fuminori Abe, and Takuya Wada
Mizuki Watase makes his return from the ACL injury that he suffered back in December surprisingly soon. However, it seems both he and GanPro will be playing it safe, as he will not be defending the Spirit of Ganbare World Tag Team Championships alongside Shigehiro Irie in this match. Instead, they will be in a big eight-man tag affair with some of GanPro’s top regulars. It will be interesting to see how Watase performs in this one, as well as see if new challengers for him and Irie emerge.
Yuna Manase, Hazuki, and Koguma vs Ami Manase, YuuRI, and Moeka Haruhi
Yuna Manase has long wanted to form a trio with her former STARDOM dojo classmates, Hazuki and Koguma, also known as FWC. Luckily, the timing was perfect for GanPro’s return to Korakuen. All three members have left STARDOM at one point, but while Koguma and Hazuki returned to become a popular tag team, Manase instead built herself into a pillar of Ganbare Pro Wrestling. In this match, she gets to show her former classmates the fruits of her labor.
Opposing them will be a formidable trio. YuuRI, GanJo’s first true homegrown star (not counting her training period), whom Manase has supported since the very beginning, wants to prove herself to her in this match, regardless of the guest stars participating. Joining her will be Ami Manase, as well as the savvy veteran Moeka Haruhi, who has been having a very successful year so far. Her and Hazuki would be a great match-up stylistically, but ultimately it is all about the result. Will STARDOM’s 5th Generation prevail, or will the GanJo crew prove to be too strong?
Ken Ohka vs Masaaki Mochizuki
Ken Ohka is not only GanPro’s founder but one of the biggest stars and epitome of what GanPro is all about. In this match, he will be taking on a well-known symbol of another company – DRAGONGATE’s ironman, Masaaki Mochizuki, who will be making his first appearance in GanPro. Ken Ohka originally trained in DRAGONGATE’s precursor Toryumon Japan for a time and finally got to enter the DRAGONGATE ring as part of Masaaki Mochizuki’s Buyuden series of shows last year. To repay the favor, he invited Mochizuki to GanPro’s anniversary event. Regardless of that motive, however, Ohka does not plan to hold back in this match.
Shuichiro Katsumura and Keisuke Ishii vs Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Yuji Nagata
The semi main event features a high profile tag team match. The previous two OG World Openweight Champions in Shuichiro Katsumura and Keisuke Ishii will be battling the first-ever SOG Champion Tatsuhito Takaiwa, as well as the Japanese Pro Wrestling World Championship grand slam winner Yuji Nagata. Ishii dethroned Katsumura during the first show of GanPro’s independence, and Nagata then beat Ishii in a singles match last year, but a title match never was realized. This match will be an opportunity for the two wrestlers to test their mettle against each other, as well as against two other well-established talents, on a big stage regardless
Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Championship: Yumehito Imanari(c) vs Shinichiro Tominaga
Both Yumehito Imanari and Shinichiro Tominaga have been with GanPro for all 12 years of the company’s existence. Despite that, their trajectories in recent years couldn’t be more different from one another. Yumehito Imanari got in the best shape of his life, worked tirelessly to improve, and climbed his way to the Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Championship. Shinichiro Tominaga, meanwhile, challenged for the SOG World Openweight Championship three times, coming closer with each challenge, but ultimately failing every single time. Tominaga got injured during GanPro’s second show, while Imanari bulldozed almost everybody on route to his second SOG World Openweight Championship.
Despite all of this, however, Shinichiro Tominaga refuses to give up. Hoping to finally prove himself, he challenged Yumehito Imanari for the Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Championship in the main event of this Korakuen Hall return. It is only that fitting two of the men who witnessed all of GanPro’s history will be the ones closing out the promotion’s 12th anniversary. Who knows if this opportunity to fight for the SOG World Openweight Championship in a Korakuen Hall main event will ever come again? Either way, the strongest will prevail and lead GanPro to kick off the company’s 12th year.
The official on-demand video recording of Mad Max 2025 will be published on April 17th, according to the WRESTLE UNIVERSE schedule.