Ōdō Tournament

On July 30, 2013, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) announced a new single-elimination tournament, set to take place the following September.

[1] Masanobu Fuchi, advisor to the AJPW board of directors, announced that the tournament was open to both Japanese and foreign wrestlers regardless of their weight divisions.

Fuchi hailed Ōdō Tournament as the start of AJPW's rebirth,[1] coming in the heels of a mass exodus of wrestlers that led to the formation of the Wrestle-1 promotion.

[16] On September 15, Suwama, the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by his former Last Revolution tag team partner Joe Doering.

[17] After being eliminated from the tournament on September 16 by Akebono, Low Ki was sidelined for the rest of his AJPW tour with an abdominal injury.

[18][19] The injury eventually led to Low Ki announcing his retirement from professional wrestling on October 14 due to AJPW supposedly not honoring their contractual obligation of medical care.

Included were the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Joe Doering, the defending Ōdō Tournament winner Akebono and one qualifying match, set for August 30 between Sushi and Yohei Nakajima.

[2] Joe Doering, the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, was eliminated from the tournament in his first round match on September 15 by Go Shiozaki, while veteran wrestler and AJPW's new president Jun Akiyama, for the second year in a row, was also eliminated in his first round match by Kento Miyahara.

Included were the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and 2013 Ōdō Tournament winner Akebono, reigning World Tag Team Champion and 2014 Ōdō Tournament winner Go Shiozaki, his championship partner Kento Miyahara and debuting outsiders Shuji Ishikawa and Yuji Hino.

Included were the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Kento Miyahara, the 2015 Ōdō Tournament winner Jun Akiyama, reigning World Junior Heavyweight and All Asia Tag Team Champion Hikaru Sato and four debuting outsiders; Kendo Kashin, Mitsuya Nagai, Ryoji Sai and Taishi Takizawa.