[DRADITION News] A press conference was held to announce the full card for the next DRADITION show on May 11 at the Korakuen Hall.

Following the previously announced main event and the headlining feature of honoring Fujinami’s 60th birthday. Fujinami was present to announced that his son LEONA will be taking on NOAH’s Naomichi Marufuji in singles competition. Tatsumi wants to see his son undergo a high-classed test against one of the best all-around wrestlers in Japan today. Tatsumi hopes to see his son to continue learning what it means to be a professional wrestler and the depths one most go to learn. Tatsumi then stated that he had originally hoped for these two to face even sooner than this, as it is something he has had planned for a while now.

Naomichi Marufuji then stated that he has been impressed with LEONA since his debut and he wants to see how far he can push the young rookie. Marufuji stated that LEONA has all the tools to become a great wrestler in the future. He then said that he plans to use everything from the basics fundamentals to the stuff that LEONA has yet to see personally since he began training.

LEONA stated that he was surprised by the announcement and was then a bit nervous with the news. But now, he feels that he is ready for the challenge. He stated that he aims to practice and be completely ready for the challenge that faces him. He knows this match is not going to be easy, but he needs the experience to one day carry the Fujinami name proudly.

Tatsumi then announced that he will be dawning the “red dragon” attire as he faces off against Koji Kanemoto in a special singles match to kick off his birthday event. Kanemoto made a direct appeal to face his the legend back in November of last year, which of course Fujinami has now accepted to happen. In a letter received by Fujinami he stated that Kanemoto is grateful for the opportunity and looks forward to facing the “red dragon”. (Red Dragon implies to the red attire that Tatsumi wore when he was still in the younger stages of his career.)
This means that Fujinami will be competing twice on the show, in the opening contest and then in the main event.

Below is the announced card in full…

DRADITION “DRAGON FOREVER ~ Tatsumi Fujinami 60th Anniversary”, 5/11/2014 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

(1) Tatsumi Fujinami Sixtieth Birthday Special Single Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Koji Kanemoto [Free]
(2) Noboyuki Kurashima vs. Ryuta Hasumi
(3) AKIRA [WNC] & Tatsuhito Takaiwa [Free] vs. NOSAWA Rongai & MAZADA [both Tokyo Gurentai]
(4) Hiro Saito vs. Bear Fukuda [SECRET BASE]
(5) Naomichi Marufuji [NOAH] vs. LEONA
(6) Semi-Final: The First Tiger Mask [RJPW] & Masakatsu Funaki [W-1] vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Alexander Otsuka [AO/DC]
(7) Main Event: Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Akitoshi Saito [Free] & Takashi Sugiura [NOAH]