[AJPW News] The event cards have been updated for the upcoming “2015 Giant Series” which will also be featuring this years “Jr. TAG BATTLE OF GLORY”. This tour is set to take place from October 12th to October 23rd.
Among the announced matches will be a prelude to the Triple Crown championship match between Akebono and Akiyama which has been set for November 1st. Kento Miyahara now having to carry the slack that has been left by the now freelance Go Shiozaki, as Kento aims to rectify having to relinquish the World Tag belts without a proper loss.
[ZERO1 News] Following KENSO’s apparence in ZERO1 and announcing an alliance with Ryoji Sai, TARU has objected to this union, being Sai’s now-former partner as of late. Sai had been working along with TARU in the Daemon Army/Voodoo Murders alliance, but TARU has placed a formal ban from KENSO being a apart of the group. TARU and KENSO having a grudge against one another for years now. A singles match has been announced as TARU will be going up against KENSO on the upcoming Korakuen Hall show on October 11th.
Below is the announced card at this time…
ZERO1 “2015 Korakuen Hall Final”, 10/11/2015 [Sun] 18:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
() KAMIKAZE vs. Yoshikazu Yokoyama
() Masato Tanaka vs. Takuya Sugawara
() TARU [FREE] vs. KENSO [FREE]
() UN Heavyweight Championship Match: [24th Champion] Toshiki Itakura vs. [Challenger] Masakado
~ 1st title defense.
() International & World Junior Heavyweight 2 Crown Championship Match: [117th & 17th Champion] Minoru Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Shinjiro Otani
~ 4th title defense.
() World Heavyweight Championship Match: [18th Champion] Kohei Sato vs. [Challenger] James Raideen
~ 4th title defense.
[BJW News] Ryuichi Kawakami’s return match for BJW has been announced for the Osaka show on 10/24. Kawakami being unable to compete for the last couple months due to a minor ACL injury.
(1) Takumi Tsukamoto, Yoshihisa Uto & Kazumi Kikuta vs. Tadasuke, Kazuaki Mihara & Ultimate Spider Jr.
(2) Joshi Offer Match: Mima Shimoda vs. Kagetsu
(3) Tsutomu Osugi & Hercules Senga vs. Tsubasa & Billyken Kid
(4) Tag Death Match: Ryuji Ito & Masaya Takahashi vs. Kankuro Hoshino & Masato Inaba
(5) Abdullah Kobayashi, Jaki Numazawa & Toshiyuki Sakuda vs. Shu Brahman, Kei Brahman & Takayuki Ueki
(6) Yuko Miyamoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani vs. Naoki Tanizaki & Kazuki Hashimoto
(7) Yuji Okabayashi, Daisuke Sekimoto & Ryuichi Kawakami vs. Magnitude Kishiwada, GAINA & Atsushi Maruyama [all FREE]
[Hard Hit News] Hikaru Sato held a press conference, outside of Minoru Suzuki’s Piledriver store/shop in Tokyo, as he announced the event card for his next Hard Hit show on November 7th.
Hard hit ~starting point, 11/7/2015 [Sat] 18:00 @ Yokohama Radiant Hall in Kanagawa
() Toshiya Kawarai [Kachofugetsu] vs. Hayato Tamura
() Yujiro Yamamoto [Kachofugetsu] vs. Manabu Hara [FREE]
() Fuminori Abe [Sportiva] vs. Daisuke Kanehira [HEAT-UP]
() Takafumi Ito [Pancrase-ism] vs. Kotaro Nasu [U-FILECAMP/FREE]
() Yoshihiro Horaguchi [K-DOJO] vs. Kenta Hattori [Kachofugetsu]
() Hikaru Sato [Pancrase MISISON] vs. Keisuke Okuda [FREE]
() Main Event: Ryo Kawamura [Pancrase-ism] vs. KEI Yamamiya [GRABAKA]
[Kabukicho News] Former DDT stars MIKAMI and Rion Mizuki, both freelance, took part in a press conference as he announced the formation of a new promotion in Kabukicho Pro-Wrestling. Rion Mizuki will be the acting representative of the promotion. The first ever show for the promotion has been announced to be held on October 20th at the Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo. A few matches have been announced for the show as follows…
Kabukicho, 10/20/2015 [Tue] @ Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo
() Misaki Ohata [WAVE] vs. Kaho Kobayashi [ASUKA]
() Gorgeous Matsuno [DDT] vs. Mineo Fujita [ZERO1]
() Madoka [FREE] vs. (to be announced)
() The Great Kabukicho vs. Joji Otani [GUTS World]
() 6 Man Tag Match: Rion Mizuki, MIKAMI [FREE] & Masayuki Mitomi [UNION] vs. Naoshi Sano [Sano-Damashii], Shota [GUTS/Damashii] & Taro Yamada [666]
ASUKA PROJECT, 9/30/2015 [Wed] 19:00 @ Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo
(0) Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Offer Match: Aki Senshi Maple Kaiser vs. Enemy The Masa ◆Winner: Maple Kaiser (-)
(1) Akiyori Takizawa’s Debut Match: Wolf Tomoya, Shin Suzuki & Akiyori Takizawa vs. Tank Nagai, Yuki Sato & Yuma [all K-DOJO] ◆Winner: Tank (13:29) with a Boston Crab on Akiyori.
(2) ASUKA the comical: Yuji Kito & Koharu Hinata w/ KaNna vs. KENSO [FREE] & Hikaru Shida ◆Winner: Shida (17:46) with the Tamashi no Three Count on Kito.
(3) Next Flyer: Shota Nakagawa vs. YO-HEY [Dove] ◆Winner: YO-HEY (12:04) with the Bamboo Dragonfly.
(4) The Lucha Libre: Hayatae, Choun Shiryu & Syuri [REINA] vs. Nobutaka Moribe, Tetsuya Nakazato & Akane Fujita [Ice Ribbon] ◆Winner: Hayate (16:29) with an assisted La Magistral on Nakazato.
(5) Repaying Gratitude: TAKA Michinoku [K-DOJO] & Shinose Mitoshichi vs. Kaho Kobayashi & Shunma Katsumata [DDT/DNA] ◆Winner: TAKA (11:57) with the Just Face Lock on Kaho.
(6) ASUKA PROJECT Championship ~ Araken style Hardcore Match: [3rd Champion] Kenichiro Arai vs. [Challenger] Masaya Takahashi ◆Winner: Arai (16:47) with a Small Package Hold.
~ 3rd successful title defense. ~ After the match, Kaho Kobayashi challenged Arai the next title defense to be on 10/29 in Warabi.
“Guts World vol.89 WINNING GUTS 2015”, 9/29/2015 [Tue] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo
(1) TECHNICAL WAR: Taro Yamada vs. Micro ◆Winner: Yamada (7:33) with a Blockbuster Hold.
(2) Young Power vs Tonpachi Machine Guns: Ryoya Akiba, Joji Otani & Shin Suzuki vs. Masao Orihara, Masked Mystery & Ryan Upin ◆Winner: Mystery (13:03) following a Chokeslam on Joji.
(3) BATTLE ARRIVAL: Drake Morimatsu vs. Kenichiro Arai ◆Winner: Arai (8:30) with a Backslide with his feet on the ropes.
(4) FIRE ROAD: Tatsuhiko Yoshino vs. Amigo Suzuki ◆Winner: Yoshino (12:56) with the Athlete German Suplex Hold. ~ Yoshino with a strong win over Amigo as he made it known that he wants another chance at that GWC singles belt. He made a bid for the challenge to take place in December for the 11th anniversary show.
(5) Kishin Akuma-do vs IWA Army 2 vs 3 Handicap Match: Mr. Gannosuke & Guts Ishijima vs. Keizo Matsuda, YUJI KITO & Ishinriki ◆Winner: DRAW (12:28) via double ring out. ~ Matsuda stated that Crusher Takahashi, I.W.A. Japan, will be coming.
(6) GWC Single Championship Match: [9th Champion] Daisuke vs. [Challenger] Shota ◆Winner: Daisuke (29:31) following a Sliding D. ~ 3rd successful title defense.
~ Masked Mystery made the challenge. The title defense has been set for 10/22 in Shinkiba.
Asakusa Yuujin Kai-kougyou “TOKYO EXTREME BATTLE Chapter 2 Sen-IKUSA”, 9/28/2015 [Mon] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo
(1) The Winger [FREEDOMS] vs. Masato Inaba [FREE] ◆Winner: Winger () with a Small Package.
(2) “W Yuji” Yuji Hino [K-DOJO] & Yuji Okabayashi [BJW] vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa [FREE] & Toru Sugiura [FREEDOMS] ◆Winner: Okabayashi () with a Golem Splash on Toru.
(3) Thumbtack Death Match: Kenji Fukimoto [FREEDOMS] vs. Takumi Tsukamoto [FREE] ◆Winner: Fukimoto () following a Package Piledriver onto thumbtacks.
(4) Fluorecent Light-tube Death Match: Isami Kodaka [UNION] & Masashi Takeda [U-FILE CAMP] vs. Yuko Miyamoto [666] & Takashi Sasaki [FREEDOMS] ◆Winner: Takeda () with a German Suplex Hold on Takashi.
(5) Glass Board Death Match: Ryuji Ito & Jaki Numazawa [both BJW] vs. Jun Kasai & Daisuke Masaoka [both FREEDOMS] ◆Winner: Ito () with a Dragon Splash on Masaoka.
Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS “Takashi Sasaki Hometown Return ~ We ☆ ICHINOSEKI”, 10/4/2015 [Sun] 14:00 @ Ichinoseki General Gymnasium, Yodumu-Main Arena in Iwate
() Toru Sugiura vs. Gurukun Mask
() Hi69, Shinobu & Tatsuhiko Yoshino vs. The Winger, Kenichiro Arai & Chikara
() Tsukasa Fujimoto & Maki Narimiya vs. Apple Miyuki & Hamuko Hoshi
() Tatsuhito Takaiwa & GENTARO vs. Yuya Susumu & Minoru Tanaka
() Hardcore Match: Kamui & Daisuke Masaoka vs. Masashi Takeda & Kenji Fukimoto
() Takashi Sasaki & Yuko Miyamoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Kasai
Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS “FREEDOMS 6th Anniversary Show”, 10/20/2015 [Tue] 19:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) Momota Father-Song Tag vs Brahman Brothers Tag Match: Mitsuo Momota & Chikara vs. Shu & Kei Brahman
(-) FREEDOMS vs. All Japan Pro-Wrestling Tag Match: (Takashi Sasaki?, GENTARO?, to be announced)
(-) KING of FREEDOM WORLD TAG CHAMPIONSHIP Match: [9th Champions] Kamui & Daisuke Masaoka vs. [Challengers] Yuya Susumu & Minoru Tanaka ~ 2nd title defense.
(-) KING of FREEDOM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Next Challenger Death Match: Jun Kasai vs. Yuko Miyamoto
~ Winner earns the title challenge against Masashi Takeda on 12/25 at Korakuen.
The full card has been announced for New Japan’s next big show “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING”, which will be held on October 12th at the Ryogoku Kokugikan.
The previously announced main event will feature Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight belt against AJ Styles. This will mark the final defense of the IWGP Heavy belt before WRESTLE KINGDOM at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4/2016.
Hiroshi Tanahashi will be putting his challenge rights for Tokyo Dome show against Tetsuya Naito. Tanahashi of course is looking to reclaim his losses in this years G1 as he looks to compete at the Dome as the most worthy challenger. This will also mark the final time that Tanahashi defends his challenge rights. So once KOPW is done we will have our Tokyo Dome main event set in place.
The NEVER Openweight belt will be defended as well as Togi Makabe takes on the former champion in Tomohiro Ishii. These two have had nothing but pure wars in the past and this shall be no different as both look to carry the belt into the big show at the Dome. This will also mark the fourth time that these two have competed in singles competition against one another just this year alone.
A special 6 man tag match has been set as Shinsuke Nakamura teams with his fellow CHAOS members Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba as they take on Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Bad Luck Fale. This match being notable as Karl Anderson made it known that he wants to be the next contender for Nakamura’s reclaimed IWGP IC belt. No match being set officially in place yet.
Both IWGP Junior class belts have been announced to be in defense on the show. As Kenny Omega is set to defend the belt against former WWE and Dragon Gate star Matt Sydal. Sydal has been present in New Japan for the last several months and has made it known that he wants to compete with the best high-flyers that New Japan has to offer. Then Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish are set to defend the IWGP Jr. Tag belts against Rocky Romero and Barreta.
The third match will feature the New Japan “third generation” veterans, Tenzan, Kojima, Nagata, and Nakanishi, teaming to take on the team of Goto, Shibata, Ibushi, and Captain New Japan. This match being of interest as Goto and Shibata could be looking to rekindle their interest in the IWGP Tag belts while Shibata and Ibushi do not get along in the slightest, especially following this years G1.
Then in a notable singles match, Tomoaki Honma will be taking on YOSHI-HASHI. This is especially of note as HASHI wanted to compete in this years G1, but was beat out by Honma. HASHI though has made it known that he is eager to become a singles guy in the promotion and has his eyes set on the NEVER Championship. This match could very well lead to the winner getting a NEVER title match in the near future.
Then the opening match will feature a New Japan junior 10 man tag match.
Below is the announced card at this time…
New Japan Pro Wrestling “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING”, 10/12/2015 [Mon] 16:00 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo
(1) Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & Mascara Dorada vs. Juice Robinson, Yohei Komatsu, Sho Tanaka, David Finaly & Jay White
(2) Tomoaki Honma vs. YOSHI-HASHI
(3) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, Kota Ibushi & Captain New Japan
(4) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [43rd Champions] “reDRagon” Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. “Roppongi Vice” Rocky Romero & Barreta ~ 2nd title defense.
(5) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [72nd Champion] Kenny Omega vs. [Challenger] Matt Sydal ~ 1st title defense.
(6) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Karl Anderson, Do Gallows & Bad Luck Fale
(7) NEVER Openwight Championship Match: [8th Champion] Togi Makabe vs. [Challenger] Tomohiro Ishii
(8) Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Contendership Rights Match: [G1 25 Winner/Rights Holder] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] Tetsuya Naito
(9) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [63rd Champion] Kazuchika Okada vs. [Challenger] AJ Styles ~ 1st title defense.
First up, Go Shiozaki (33) officially announced that he will become a freelance wrestlers as of October. As his contract expires as of October 1st. The reason behind this is plainly stated by him that he “wants to expand his potential” as a pro-wrestler. He stated that he had consulted with Jun Akiyama for most of this year time with the two coming to an agreement that this would be the best decision for Shiozaki, because if this is what he wants then it shall be his decision to make. Shiozaki apologized to the fans for leaving All Japan like this, but he hopes that they support him as he undertakes these new steps in his career.
With this news also comes the state of the World Tag belts, as Shiozaki currently holds the belts along with Kento Miyahara. That was addressed as they will be relinquishing their reign as champions. Shiozaki stated that he is sorry to Miyahara as he decision to leave All Japan greatly effects him. Though with that Shiozaki told his now former partner that the future is now his to take. Miyahara was clearly frustrated with this decision, especially with giving up the belts when there was no loss involved. Miyahara going so far to state that with Shiozaki gone “Xceed is disbanded.” Though Shiozaki asking for the group to remain if the members so choose. The upcoming tour in October will surely shed some light on the future of Xceed and Miyahara specifically.
Akiyama then announced that his challenge for the Triple Crown against Akebono will be held on November 1st in Hirosaki. After winning the “Oudou Tournament” Akiyama immediately expressed a challenge towards Akebono and the Triple Crown belt. He stated that although he defeated the champion in the finals of the tournament that he does not expect to it to come as easily this time around. That Akebono did become champion for a reason and when it is crunch time for the yokozuna that he will step up. That is what Akiyama wants though as he made it clear that he is looking to stand at the apex once more. He wants to make it known that even at his age, 46, that he is still one of the best wrestlers today.
All Japan Pro-Wrestling “Hirosaki Special Charity Show”, 11/1/2015 [Mon] 15:00 @ Aomori Prefectur Budokan
(-) Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship Match: [52nd Champion] Akebono vs. [Challenger] Jun Akiyama ~ 3rd title defense.
The man behind at Puroresu Spirit, BushidoRX, is allowing me, DylanZero, to start a new (hopefully) regular feature on here going with a look at a week’s worth of matches of a particular wrestler, spanning big moments of an entire career. To start off with, I’m taking a look at one of my favorite pro wrestlers who also happened to start one of my favorite promotions. There’s a great bio of his full career here on the full site here: http://puroresuspirit.net/puroresu-legends/yuki-ishikawa/ – But the brief version is Yuki Ishikawa is a well respected shoot style pro wrestler and trainer, who started his career in an incredible story after travelling to America after nothing more than finding a picture of Karl Gotch at his house, finding him and convincing Gotch to train the young Ishikawa (as related by him himself on his blog and translated on his personal FB page). He’s gone on to train many in his style and teach his secrets to inspired young minds with an appreciation of Hybrid wrestling, from his own company and abroad.
These posts will be made daily on the facebook page with them all being collected and hosted here on the website at the end of that week. [BushidoRX]
Here I’ll be looking at 7 matches that encapsulates different points of his journey throughout this week to this point. Now keep in mind these aren’t just “The best 7 matches of his career”, my intentions are more to provide a snapshot of different points of his career all throughout, not easy for someone who’s been around since ’92! To describe his style would be extremely hard hitting, pretty technical, and avoiding many clichés of traditional pro wrestling. Along the lines of a next gen Tiger Mask 1, Fujiwara, Maeda, combination of those guys, etc. etc. The most mainstream descendant of his style that comes closest might be…Katsuyori Shibata or Minoru Suzuki. (I feel ridiculous even making that comparison though) So fans of the be sure to give this underrated legend a look! As well as to keep up with his upcoming work in promotions like RJPW since the impotus for choosing him as the first wrestler for this was his return to puroresu less than a week ago.
Week of Yuki Ishikawa, Day 1
Now finally the first match I am looking at today took place just after a year to the business, after extensive training with the aforementioned Gotch, as well as the Malenko family of wrestling, Ishikawa returned to his native Japan and trained even further under the legendary Yoshiaki Fujiwara and his promotion, Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. He competed for over a year before getting to main event his first show in PWFG in late ’93, taking the place of many predecessors before him as the upstart native vs tough guy foreigner. Kozlowski is a standout amateur wrestler who trained for the Olympics as late as 2008 and whose twin brother Dennis took home the Silver Medal in the ’92 Barcelona games. He didn’t last long in pro wrestling, but was a standout here representing the USA on Japanese turf and even at such a young age Ishikawa gets everything he can out of him, getting both men’s best PWFG matches here and showing signs of much greater things to come for our protaginist Yuki Ishikawa.
Week of Yuki Ishikawa, Day 2
Yesterday we got the basics down for our main man going over his training with Karl Gotch and the Malenko family, leading to his debut and first career main event in PWFG. He continued down his path for 2-3 years becoming a renowned star in the company, but due to financial problems and “questionable circumstances” Ishikawa followed his convictions and led an exodus of the entire roster, years before All Japan’s troubles, to start his own company, christened “Fighting Investigation Team Battlarts” (Hereby referred to as it’s known name BattlARTS) where he mixed the more shoot style elements of his predecessor seamlessly with pro wrestling cadence. He main evented many shows in BattlARTS history but early on the company was still finding its’ feet in terms of perfecting its’ style…
Which brings me to today’s match. Not the first appearance of Ishikawa against his greatest rival Ikeda (Trust me, more on him later) at all but definitely the match where things really felt like an explosion of a true rivalry. With the heroic team of Ishikawa & Otsuka taking on the bruisers in Ikeda & Ono, this isn’t similar to something like Volk Han shoot style where everything is flawless and shown off, this match is about the fire the two teams show while beating the stuffing out of each other and in my opinion the first truly great Bati-Bati style match. Ono & Ikeda again were great antagonists, Ishikawa was a hard hitting fighter and Otsuka built up well to finally catching his nemesis in Ono (including busting out a move you’d never expect to see in this style of match but done in the most logical way possible), this is a great introduction to the “true” Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS, & shoot style as a whole with 4 of the company’s biggest stars.
Match: Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono (October 30th, 1996)
Week of Yuki Ishikawa – Day 3
Carl “Greco” Malenko vs. Yuki Ishikawa (4/24/98)
Here is one of my favorite matches in an already pretty sweet year of wrestling worldwide, Ishikawa taking on an old adversary in one of the men he trained with. Another trainee of the great Malenko family, in fact Dean & Joe Malenko’s shoot stepbrother, with dad Boris pulling Carl off the streets as a youth and turning him into a top flight wrestler. Carl Malenko didn’t have the varied pro wrestling moveset of Dean, but as a pure technical wrestler Carl was actually quite a bit more skilled, and it shows here in this match. Ishikawa again returns to his role from the first match of the week as fiery native, but is so much better early on from his PWFG days, the striking, grappling, desperation shown here is elite level from both men and adds so much to an already great technical match. Tremendous wrestling as well as on the shorter side in terms of match length. Stay tuned for the post match as it plays into the feud I will touch on tomorrow. (Though sadly the ’98 specific Ikeda/Ishikawa match isn’t easily available but I promise I’ll deliver some good stuff! As well as to get into some of Bati-Bati’s struggles) Enjoy the match.
Week of Yuki Ishikawa – Day 4
Oh yeah, now the getting’s getting real good. I highly encourage everyone to check this match out, as it’s one of my favorites in both men’s careers as well as BattlARTS as a whole. I’m talking about our Strong Style Hero Ishikawa taking on his now for sure enemy in Daisuke Ikeda on August 29th, 1999. Now, I just want to start off by saying these two have a ton of acclaimed matches in the three year span of 1997-1999 so I would definitely recommend all of them as there is far from a consensus favorite, but in particular the September 1st, 1997 and May 27th, 1998 matches are worth going out of your way to watch. Alas if I did every great Ikeda/Ishikawa match this would be the month of Ishikawa instead of just a week.
At this point things were going very well for Ishikawa. For a Japanese indy fed BattlARTS had a small, but passionate fanbase as well as solid backing from different sponsors. We’ll see how long that healthiness lasts for the company. (Hint: It’s not long) But anyway, Ishikawa had really been solidified as the Ace of the promotion in the last year, by winning BOTH of BattlARTS’ top tournaments at the time in 1998, the Young Generation Battle League (similar to the G1 Climax of NJPW fame) with a win in the Grand Final over respected Austrian shooter Viktor Krüger, as well as a win in the first ever “B-Cup” (A special tournament held under B-Rules in which no strikes are allowed) over the legendary but improbable Bob Backlund.
Now onto this feud and match, For the most part their rivalry wasn’t about any particular prize they were going after as BattlARTS had no titles it promoted as it’s own or anything like that, just the once a year Young Generation Battle League, it was simply about hate and heated fights with each other. However this match is the combination of the grudge and the prize as it’s the Final of said tournaments. This match differentiates itself from their other wars with a bit more technical stylings and matwork…in addition to it being a hate filled war of course. There really is a looming sense of both men “taking too much” and things feeling close to a knockout at any time. It’s the real deal and check it out linked in the comments.
Week of Yuki Ishikawa – Day 5
It needs to be said but like I mentioned BattlARTS was nearing a very down period as an ironic result of gaining prominence, while Ishikawa, Malenko, & Katsumi Usuda stayed pat seemingly everyone else got poached to bigger companies, including Minoru Tanaka to NJPW, Ikeda to AJPW (almost immediately NOAH), Mitsuya Nagai to AJPW, Mohammed Yone to NOAH, and Alexander Otsuka to MMA full time. With the top of the card eroded the fanbase dwindled. On top of that later on a bad fight in MMA promotion PRIDE against Rampage Jackson (in which Rampage tried a shoot Piledriver that could have seriously injured Ishikawa had it worked), a falling out with it’s main co-promoters in Zero1, and just the general downturn of the economy and interest in wrestling, all led to BattlARTS to close it’s doors for years in late 2001 in a situation that was impossible to deal with. But it wasn’t the end for BattlARTS yet or Ishikawa! Tomorrow I’ll get into Ishikawa’s best non-BattlARTS match, as well as the eventual rebirth of Ishikawa’s beloved company and what he was up to in the meantime. Until then as mentioned enjoy this great match between bitter rivals Ishikawa & Ikeda in the comments.
After BattlARTS’ closing, Ishikawa (as well as most of their roster) drifted around without a home, but Ishikawa always found time to stay busy. In 2002 Ishikawa returned to ZERO-ONE MAX to participate in their Fire Festival, having a respectable run and finishing tied for 2nd in his Block, but didn’t last beyond a few months in that company, and after a brief hiatus the following year had a few week run with All Japan again not climbing the ladder to much of note. And after running a one off BattlARTS’ 7th Anniversary show in 2003 and competing sporadically in several random promotions such as upstarts like Riki Choshu’s World Japan, things were looking very up in the air…
At least they would have been, had he not been like a mad shoot style scientist behind the scenes training many of the young men that would help lead him and his company back to life. Many of which would join him in the short lived sports entertainment/shoot style hybrid promotion Big Mouth Loud, which was a doozy of a company in itself, let me tell you. But pieces were falling into place, not the least of which was a spiritual successor to BattlARTS and a continuation of the Bati-Bati style springing up, led by none other than Ishikawa’s eternal rival Daisuke Ikeda. Fu-Ten started in 2005 and with the man in charge, it’s grassroots fanbase were already in heavy speculation about a potential collision between Ikeda and Ishikawa after half a decade apart, and they definitely keep us waiting long, as we’re about to look at the main event from Fu-Ten’s very first show and certainly Ishikawa’s best match outside his own company.
If the last match between these two was an attempt at working more mat-based and showing technical style, this was them simply having an all out war. There’s really no way around it. These two gave each other a beating they’ll never forget. The likes of the more “mainstream” purveyors of this reputation like Shibata, etc. could never compare to something like this. If you’re a fan of that style there’s no doubt about it, this is a must watch.
After years of training and working an extremely lax schedule, in 2007 Ishikawa decided to bring BattlARTS back for another round, albeit under a bit more of a budget based around DVD sales of their shows, which were only held sporadically from this point on. In 2008 the BattlARTS revival was a critical success with some of the better matches you’ll see from late 2000s Japan, and possibly the two most acclaimed centered around Ishikawa himself. (A 4-on-4 elimination match in April, and a tag featuring veteran Ikuto Hidaka, and my favorite two Ishikawa trainees, Munenori Sawa & Yuta Yoshikawa from August. Unfortunately the lack of YT/DM availability leads me to steer clear though if you know where to look they’re easily available. With players like those 4 the company was able to sustain itself as a lowkey indy promotion for a little while, but even by 2010 they had lost some of their key players with Malenko & Otsuka gone and Yoshikawa’s unexpected retirement the writing was on the wall for the company. Things went on for a good while until late 2011 when the company again closed it’s doors…but it’s still not done yet!
Anyway Ishikawa had another match vs Ikeda on BattlARTS’ final show (which is great and available in the same place as the two above) but again availability and just the fact that we’ve seen him vs Ikeda a couple of times already I picked out the best match I could find from BattlARTS’ last year.
Ishikawa/Hideki Suzuki vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Super Tiger II – Feb. 27th, 2011
This match really isn’t a career one or overly important to him, but it’s really great! The eternal rivals brought the beef as usual and beat each other senseless as always, but the climax to the match centered around Ikeda squaring off with Hideki (Who was actually my original ideas for this project and is one of my favorites). Super Tiger is a trainee of the original Tiger Mask and also does very well here. Lots of cool suplexes from Hideki really balance out the usual wild fighting that our heroes bring. Regardless a fine answer for the last year of BattlARTS.
Week of Yuki Ishikawa – Day 7
Friends, what a journey it has been looking through one of my favorite wrestlers and his company which is also one of my favorites. Thanks to all that have read thus far, and hope everyone enjoyed the series, but here we are with it coming to an end for now, though hopefully Ishikawa can join companies with bigger internet profiles and be a hard hitter wherever he goes. Welcome back and hopefully we all get to see his return match featuring greats like Alexander Otsuka and Daisuke Sekimoto.
But anyway, picking up where I left off previously BattlARTS closed down as a promotion in late 2011, just over a decade after the original closing. The following year he mainly competed in the aforementioned Sayama project, Real Japan Pro Wrestling, with occasional one-offs in Fu-Ten and even for some reason, Joshi Puroresu group Ice Ribbon fighting Miyako Matsumoto (a girl…but a very solid wrestler to be fair) But recently he got a great opportunity for over the past year before his recent return, he’s taken his craft overseas all the way to Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, as a head trainer and partner with an unlikely source in someone Ishikawa helped early in his career, former WWE wrestler Santino Marella. As a trainer for the Battle ARTS Academy, he’s trained countless numbers of the Canadian indy scene as well as put his influence on talented US-based wrestlers who travel around the area, such as EVOLVE World Champion Timothy Thatcher. The Academy has essentially been a training ground for much of it’s existence but recently has taken a step in becoming something closer and more akin to BattlARTS in Japan by running sporadic full shows, and the match here is a testament to that.
Taking place in November of last year, Ishikawa wrestles in BattlARTS Academy’s 4th official show titled “PUSH”, facing off against his latest student, Sansyu. At this point in his career Ishikawa is a clean 47 Years old, but we see even here truly taking the young man to school as Ishikawa is often the one pushing the pace harder and shows something I’ve often admired. His love and passion for wrestling shines through in every match with how much effort he gives. He’s such a great example and an improvement upon his predecessors in that regard. There are tons of headbutts, big strikes, great submissions and general violence that make this great, with Ishikawa even at one point hitting a huge backdrop suplex. What a great thing it is to see Ishikawa not only still rocking, but also helping to keep the great BattlARTS style alive with the importance of technique fading away in the more sports entertainment-centric world of wrestling in Japan today, and hopefully Sansyu as well as the other Academy students keep pushing forward.
Final thoughts: I consider Yuki Ishikawa one of the 20 or 30 best wrestlers purely in the ring ever, despite unfortunately never getting as much spotlight as many others. I wrap up this piece by quoting a 2008 interview Ishikawa with longtime puroresu expert Dave Ditch that was about his extremely hard hitting and stiff matches with Ikeda and really just in general and why he is so hard on himself and his opponents especially that encapsulates his philosophy and career on the whole:
“Because we are not hitting each other, we are hitting the fucking stupid people in the world who think that pro-wrestling is fake like a trained monkey show. They say that pro wrestling kicks are fake so it is not painful. etc. Once they see our fight, they have nothing to say. They watch our fight like a fool with their mouth open with surprise. So our violent fight is not only for our opponents but for the f-ing people that make light of BATTLARTS. Our fight is anger towards people who make light of us.”
BJW “2015 Saikyo Tag League”, 9/27/2015 [Sun] @ Nagoya Diamond Hall
(1) Atsushi Maruyama & Kazumi Kikuta vs. Kankuro Hoshino & Frank Atsushi ◆Winner: Maruyama (9:07) following a Buzzsaw Kick on Atsushi.
(2) Kazuki Hashimoto, Daichi Hashimoto & Toshiyuki Sakuda vs. Kengo Takai, Masaya Takahashi & Hideyoshi Kamitani ◆Winner: Kamitani (7:49) with a Stretch Plum on Sakuda.
(3) Kohei Sato vs. Yoshihisa Uto ◆Winner: Kohei (9:42) following a Piledriver.
(4) Barbed-wire Board Tag Death Match: Ryuji Ito & Jaki Numazawa vs. Abdullah Kobayashi & Takayuki Ueki ◆Winner: Kobayashi (12:48) with a Boston Crab on Jaki on a Barbed-wire Board.
(5) Strong Block: Yuji Okabayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Tsutomu Osugi & Hercules Senga [both FREE] ◆Winner: Okabayashi (14:15) with the Golem Splash on Senga.
~ Okabayashi/Sekimoto [2 wins, 1 loss = 4 points]
~ Osugi/Senga [1 win, 3 losses = 2 points]
(6) Death Match Block ~ Yamei Rarenai, Non-Stop Psychedelic Death Match: Isami Kodaka [UNION] & Yuko Miyamoto [666] vs. Shu & Kei Brahman [both FREE] ◆Winner: Isami (15:04) with a Manjigatame on Kei.
~ Isami/Miyamoto [3 wins, 1 loss = 6 points]
~ Brahman’s [2 losses = 0 points]
Previous Day Results
~ Day 1 (9/21) [RESULTS]
~ Day 2 (9/22) [RESULTS]
~ Day 3 (9/23) [RESULTS]
~ Day 4 (9/24) [RESULTS]
~ Day 5 (9/25) [RESULTS]
~ Day 6 (9/26) [RESULTS]
~ Day 7 (9/27) [RESULTS] * Above
~ Day 8 (10/1)
WRESTLE-1 2nd ANNIVERSARY JUST FANTASTIC!~LEGEND Advent, 9/27/2015 [Sun] 17:00 @ Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial Exhibition Hall 3rd Building 1,614 Spectators
(1) Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Hiroki Murase & Shotaro Ashino ◆Winner: Kondo (13:56) with a Boston Crab on Ashino.
(2) Kumagoro vs. Alexander Otsuka [AO/DC] ◆Winner: Kumagoro (7:33) via foul.
(3) Masayuki Kono vs. Hiroshi Yamato ◆Winner: Kono (7:35) following a Running Knee.
(4) KAI & Shota [Sano-Damashii] vs. Minoru Tanaka & Andy Wu ◆Winner: Minoru (12:37) following the Tornado Kaki Cutter on Shota.
(5) Manabu Soya, AKIRA & Jun Kasai [FREEDOMS] vs. KAZMA SAKAMOTO, NOSAWA Rongai & Koji Doi ◆Winner: Soya (17:28) following the Wild Bomber on NOSAWA.
(6) Ryota Hama vs. Masato Tanaka [ZERO1] ◆Winner: Tanaka (17:28) following the Sliding D.
(7) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Great Muta, The Great Kabuki [FREE] & TAJIRI ◆Winner: Kabuki (16:41) following an Uppercut on Kuroshio.
“WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2015 UPDRAFT”, 10/3/2015 [Sat] 17:30 @ Yokohama Radiant Hall in Kanagawa
(1) KAI vs. Koji Doi
(2) Masayuki Kono vs. Shota [Sano-Damashii]
(3) Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Hiroki Murase & Shotaro Ashino
(4) Ryota Hama & Hiroshi Yamato vs. KAZMA SAKAMOTO & NOSAWA Rongai
(5) Manabu Soya, AKIRA & Kumagoro vs. Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Seiki Yoshioka
(6) WRESTLE-1 Cruiserweight Championship Match: [2nd Champion] Andy Wu vs. [Challenger] Minoru Tanaka ~ 1st title defense.
“WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2015 Fan Appreciation Day”, 10/9/2015 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
() Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Hiroki Murase & Shotaro Ashino
() Andy Wu, Minoru Tanaka & Hiroshi Yamato vs. NOSAWA Rongai, MAZADA & Koji Doi
() TAJIRI vs. KAZMA SAKAMOTO
() WRESTLE-1 Championship Next Contender 3WAY Match: KAI vs. Ryota Hama vs. Masayuki Kono
(-) F-1 Tag Championship Decision Match: Keiji Mutoh & Kannazuki (fake Mutoh) vs. Manabu Soya & Sugi-chan
(-) UWA WAR World 6 Man Tag Championship Decision Match: “new WILD order” AKIRA, Jun Kasai & Kumagoro w/ Minako vs. “Jackets” Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Seiki Yoshioka w/ Big Daddy Linker Kiyoshi
“WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2015 UPDRAFT”, 10/12/2015 [Mon] 18:00 @ Yume Messe Miyagi, West Building Hall in Miyagi Pref.
() Hiroshi Yamato vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue
() Masayuki Kono vs. NOSAWA Rongai
() Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Hiroki Murase & Shotaro Ashino
() Ryota Hama & Andy Wu vs. KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Koji Doi
() Manabu Soya, AKIRA & Kumagoro vs. KAI, Minoru Tanaka & Shota
() Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Shu & Kei Brahman [both FREE]
KAIENTAI DOJO “CLUB-K TOUR in SHIZUOKA”, 9/27/2015 [Sun] 13:00 @ Shimizu Marine Building in Shizuoka
(1) Ayumu Honda vs. Kyu Mogami ◆Winner: Honda (7:30) with a Cross Armbar.
(2) Ryuichi Sekine vs. Bambi ◆Winner: Sekine (5:11) with the Combine.
(3) Ricky Fuji & Spark Aoki [SECRET BASE] vs. Taishi Takizawa & GO Asakawa ◆Winner: Fuji (15:20) with the Hard Rock on Asakawa.
(4) CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Contendership Tournament Final Match: Hiro Tonai vs. TAKA Michinoku ◆Winner: TAKA (15:38) with a Leg Face Lock. ~ TAKA earns the title challenge for the “CLUB-K SUPER” show at Korakuen Hall on 11/1.
(5) Yuji Hino, Hi69 [FREE] & Shizuoka Gyoza vs. Tank Nagai, Kengo Mashimo & Yuma ◆Winner: Tank (18:07) following a Diving Senton on Gyoza.
(6) UWA World Middleweight Championship Match: [60th Champion] Yuki Sato vs. [Challenger] Kaji Tomato ◆Winner: Kaji (14:12) with the Red Eye. ~ Champion falls on his 4th title defense. Kaji becomes the 61st generation champion.
KAIENTAI DOJO “CLUB-K SUPER in Blue Field”, 10/4/2015 [Sun] 15:00 @ Blue Field in Chiba
() Daigoro Kashiwa & Kotaro Nasu [U-FILE CAMP] vs. Taishi Takizawa & Kotaro Yoshino
() HHHH Test Match: Yuji Hino vs. Yoshihiro Horaguchi
() CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Championship Match: [Champion] Tank Nagai vs. [Challenger] Ryuichi Sekine
~ 1st title defense.
KAIENTAI DOJO “CLUB-K TOUR in SENDAI”, 10/9/2015 [Sun] 18:00 @ Miyagino District Culture Center
(-) STRONGEST-K TAG Championship: [30th] Kengo Mashimo & Yuki Sato vs. [Challengers] TAKA Michinoku & MEN’S Teioh ~ 1st title defense.
KAIENTAI DOJO “CLUB-K SUPER in Korakuen Hall”, 11/1/2015 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) Isami Kodaka vs. Shiori Asahi
(-) CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Championship Match: [Champion] (Winner of Tank vs Sekine) vs. [Challenger] TAKA Michinoku
DDT “Who’s Gonna Top? ~ DDT Dramatic General Election 2015”, 9/27/2015 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo 1,750 Spectators
(0) King of Dark Championship: [3rd Champion] Gota Ihashi vs. [Challenger] Sanshiro Takagi ◆Winner: Ihashi (4:03) with a Moonsault Press. ~ Champions “falls” on his 14th title defense. Takagi becomes the 4th generation champion.
(1) Gota Ihashi, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Kouki Iwasaki vs. Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & Akai Saki ◆Winner: Ihashi (2:47) with a Moonsault Press on Katsumata. ~ Ihashi finally gets out of the dark match hell as he takes out rookie Katsumata in no time whatsoever.
(2) Toru Owashi Debut 15th Anniversary Match: Toru Owashi vs. Kazuki Hirata ◆Winner: Owashi (7:02) via pin-fall.
(3) Masa Takanashi & Kota Umeda vs. Joey Ryan & Hiroshi Fukuda ◆Winner: Ryan (9:12) following a Super Kick.
(4) Kota Ibushi & Suguru Miyatake vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Ryota Nakatsu ◆Winner: Ibushi (12:50) with a Sit-down Last Ride on Nakatsu.
(5) KO-D 6 Person Tag Championship: [19th Champions] “Team Dream Futures” Keisuke Ishii, Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao vs. [Challengers] “Ohka Empire” Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka ◆Winner: Ohka (15:20) following the Spear of Flame on Irie. ~ Champions fall on their 6th title defense. Ohka Empire becomes the 20th generation champions.
(6) HARASHIMA, Akito & Yasu Urano vs. Antonio Honda, Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo ◆Winner: Endo (15:22) with a Torture Rack Bomb on Urano.
(7) KO-D Openweight Championship: [54th Champion] Yukio Sakaguchi vs. [Challenger] Daisuke Sasaki ◆Winner: Sakaguchi (23:34) following the Kami no Migihiza (Right Knee of God). ~ 1st successful title defense.
New Japan Pro Wrestling “DESTRUCTION in KOBE”, 9/27/2015 [Sun] 16:00 @ Kobe World Memorial Hall in Hyogo
(1) Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. David Finlay & Jay White ◆Winner: Sho (5:00) with a Boston Crab on White.
(2) Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson ◆Winner: Nagata (8:44) with a Backdrop Hold on Robinson.
(3) Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Rocky Romero & Barreta ◆Winner: Romero (7:48) following the Strong Zero on Dorada.
(4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Matt Sydal vs. Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Kenny Omega ◆Winner: Sydal (10:52) with a Shooting Star Press on Omega. ~ Sydal with the win over the new IWGP Jr. Champion.
(5) Special Single Match: Katsuyori Shibata [FREE] vs. Tetsuya Naito ◆Winner: Naito (11:49) following the Destino. ~ Naito grabbed the ref then low-blowed Shibata twice before slapping him in the face and dropping him with the Destino finish.
~ Shibata continued to attack Naito, as Naito was leaving on the entrance ramp.
(6) Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba [FREE] vs. AJ Styles, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga ◆Winner: Sakuraba (12:18) with the Sakuraba Lock on Hall. ~ Okada and Styles had a stare-down after the match in prelude to the IWGP Heavy title defense on October 12th.
(7) IWGP Jr. Tag Championship Match: [43rd Champions] Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. [Challengers] KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley ◆Winner: Fish (16:17) following the Chasing The Dragon on Shelley. ~ 1st successful title defense.
~ Following the match, RPG Vice attacked the champions with Fish being took out with the Strong Zero. Vice made it known that they want the next shot at the belts.
(8) Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Challenge Rights Match: [G1 25 Winner/Right’s Holder] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale ◆Winner: Tanahashi (16:37) with the High Fly Flow. ~ Naito come out to challenge Tanahashi after the match.
(9) IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [11th Champion] Hirooki Goto vs. [Challenger] Shinsuke Nakamura ◆Winner: NAkamura (22:56) following a Boma Ye. ~ Champion falls on his 2nd title defense. Nakamura becomes the 12th Champion.
~ Karl Anderson came out to challenge Nakamura following the match.
BJW “2015 Saikyo Tag League”, 9/27/2015 [Sun] @ Nagoya Diamond Hall
(1) Ryuichi Sekine [K-DOJO] vs. Kazumi Kikuta ◆Winner: Sekine (7:12) with the Combine (Elevated Boston Crab).
(2) Jaki Numazawa & Yuichi Taniguchi vs. Atsushi Maruyama [FREE] & Toshiyuki Sakuda ◆Winner: Maruyama (14:43) with a Moonsault Press on Yuichi.
(3) Fluorescent Light Tag Death Match: Abdullah Kobayashi & Masaya Takahashi vs. Kankuro Hoshino & Masato Inaba ◆Winner: Hoshino (11:10) following a Diving Senton on Masaya.
(4) Strong Block: Kazuki Hashimoto & Daichi Hashioto vs. Tsutomu Osgui & Hercules Senga ◆Winner: Kazuki (12:25) following a Death Valley Bomb on Senga.
~ Kazuki/Daichi [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]
~ Osugi/Senga [1 win, 2 losses = 2 points]
(5) Yuji Okabayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani & Yoshihisa Uto ◆Winner: Okabayashi (14:11) with an Argentine Backbreaker on Uto.
(6) Anywhere Fall Death Match: Ryuji Ito, Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto vs. Shu Brahman, Kei Brahman & Takayuki Ueki ◆Winner: Ito (14:59) with a Dragon Splash on Ueki.
Previous Day Results
~ Day 1 (9/21) [RESULTS]
~ Day 2 (9/22) [RESULTS]
~ Day 3 (9/23) [RESULTS]
~ Day 4 (9/24) [RESULTS]
~ Day 5 (9/25) [RESULTS]
~ Day 6 (9/26) [RESULTS] * Above
~ Day 7 (9/27) [RESULTS]
~ Day 8 (10/1)
…
All Japan Pro-Wrestling “3rd Annual Oudou Tournament ~ 2015 Open Championship”, 9/26/2015 [Sat] 18:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo 1,137 Spectators
(1) Masanobu Fuchi & Yohei Nakajima vs. Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi ◆Winner: Fuchi (7:05) with a Small Package on Aoyagi. ~ Nomura and Yohei continued to tease a GAORA TV match as Yohei gloated as the champion.
(2) Oudou Semi-final Match: Akebono vs. Shuji Ishikawa [UNION] ◆Winner: Akebono (6:42) following the Yokozuna Impact. ~ Akebono moves on to the final.
~ Akebono did not leave the match unscathed though as he left the hall showing the effects of the battle that just transpired.
~ It appears that Ishikawa is not done competing in All Japan. He stated that he was unable to control the size of Akebono as he had no issues overpowering his previous opponents in the tournament, but he put forth too much of an effort to try and gain the upper hand too soon.
(3) Oudou Semi-final Match: Jun Akiyama vs. Yuji Hino [K-DOJO] ◆Winner: Akiyama (12:42) following a Wrist Clutch style Exploder. ~ Akiyama moves on the final match against the Triple Crown champion Akebono.
~ Hino also made it known that he wants to continue competing for All Japan in the future.
———————————————————————-
The matches were announced for the upcoming “Jr. TAG BATTLE OF GLORY”.
(4) Oudou Tournament Special 8 Man Tag Match: Go Shiozaki, Kento Miyahara, Takao Omori & Yutaka Yoshie [FREE] vs. Suwama, Zeus, KENSO [FREE] & The Bodyguard [FREE] ◆Winner: Shiozaki (15:16) following a Go Flasher on KENSO.
(5)Boteju presents Jr. TAG BATTLE OF GLORY Prelude Special 6 Man Tag Match: Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Ultimo Dragon [Toryumon MEXICO] vs. Atsushi Aoki, Hikaru Sato [Pancrase MISSION] & Takeshi Minamino [FREE]
◆Winner: Kotaro (14:03) following the Endless Waltz on Minamino. ~ ManjiMaru also came out with Minamino, as Minamino stated that he is no longer affiliated with KENSO’s DK (Dark Kingdom).
(6) Oudou Tournament Final Match: Akebono vs. Jun Akiyama ◆Winner: Akiyama (8:46) following a Low Running Knee. ~ The 46 year old Akiyama wins the Oudou Tournament 2015. ~ Akiyama stated that he will challenge for the Triple Crown belt on 11/1 in Aomori.
~ Kobashi raised Akiyama’s after Akiyama came to the announcer’s table, as Kobashi was announcing for the show.
“WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2015 UPDRAFT”, 10/3/2015 [Sat] 17:30 @ Yokohama Radiant Hall in Kanagawa
(-) WRESTLE-1 Cruiserweight Championship: [2nd Champion] Andy Wu vs. [Challenger] Minoru Tanaka ~ 1st title defense.
“WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2015 Fan Appreciation Day”, 10/9/2015 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) F-1 Tag Championship Decision: Keiji Mutoh & Kannazuki (fake Mutoh) vs. Manabu Soya & Sugi-chan
(-) UWA WAR World 6 Man Tag Championship Decision: “new WILD order” AKIRA, Jun Kasai & Kumagoro w/ Minako vs. “Jackets” Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Seiki Yoshioka w/ Big Daddy Linker Kiyoshi
UNION, 10/4/2015 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) Fly to Everwhere Championship: [9th Champion] Cherry vs. [Challenger] Masako Takahashi ~ 1st title defense.
(-) UNION MAX Championship: [5th Champion] Isami Kodaka vs. [Challenger] Shuji Ishikawa ~ 1st title defense.
Pro Wrestling NOAH “GREAT VOYAGE 2015 in NAGOYA ~ Masashi Aoyagi Retirement Show ~ Raising an Army 15th Anniversary vol. 3”, 10/4/2015 [Sat] 17:00 @ Nagoya Congress Center
(-) GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship: [24th Champions] El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku vs. [Challengers] Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge ~ 5th title defense.
Sendai Girls, 10/11/2015 [Sun] @ Sendai Sun Plaza Hall
(-) Sendai Girls World Tag Team Championship Decision: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. ????
(-) Sendai Girls World Championship Decision: Meiko Satomura vs. Ayako Hamada
———————————————-———————————————————-
◆ZERO1 Sanctioned Title Matches◆
ZERO1 “2015 Korakuen Hall Final”, 10/11/2015 [Sun] 18:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) UN Heavyweight Championship: [24th Champion] Toshiki Itakura vs. [Challenger] Masakado ~ 1st title defense.
(-) International & World Junior Heavyweight 2 Crown Championship: [117th & 17th Champion] Minoru Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Shinjiro Otani ~ 4th title defense.
(-) World Heavyweight Championship: [18th Champion] Kohei Sato vs. [Challenger] James Raideen ~ 4th title defense.
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