News Archive

It turns out the more than one member of the roster will be taking part, along with some more familiar faces. The team "representing Z1" will be the free team of Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita, one of the more dominant teams of the promotion this past year. And even though they lost the PWF Universal Tag Team titles this tour to Corino & Anderson, they won the NWA International Lightweight tag titles.

And speaking of the NWA International Lightweight tag titles, former champs Kaz Hayashi and Spanky will be teaming together in the tourney as well. Kaz and Spanky won the titles off of Takaiwa and Tomohiro Ishii, and have fought side-by-side often in Pro Wrestling HUSTLE.

Other members in the tournament are Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA (Pro Wrestling NOAH), KUDO & Ibushi Kota (DDT), Tiger Emperor & Super Shisa (Pro Wrestling NOAH/Dragon Gate), Takashi Sasaki & GENTARO (Apache Army), and TAKA Michinoku & TBA (K-Dojo).

Sasaki also singled out Takaiwa and said that he's aiming for eventually capturing the Z1-MAX/AWA/UPW/W1 International Jr. championship. Namiguchi said he will fight anybody he can in ZERO1-MAX and that he will finally win a battle on 4/10 against the drunken kung-fu fighter - Kensho Oh.

Otani talked a lot of smack leading up to this match, and he was able to eliminate Corino early on with the King Cobra hold in just under 6½ minutes. The match continued for almost 14 more minutes before Omori dropped the big mouth with the dreaded Axe Bomber for the 1-2-3. At one point Corino took a devestating Axe Bomber from the champ plus a kick to the head from Otani simultaneously.

After Corino was eliminated, Omori and Otani continued the battle by brawling outside the ring. Otani continually attacked the champ's arm hoping to defend from the Axe Bomber. Omori responded by going after Otani right leg with a chair and a table. They both kept up these respective limb attacks since returning to the ring. And while Otani kicked out of the Axe Bomber initially, he was unable to withstand mulitple Axe Bombers.

After the match, Corino returned to the ring at the head of a gaijin contingent to attack Otani. As he and CW Anderson held Otani, Sonjay, Shelley and Spanky all delivered super kicks. They then went into the crowd and grabbed one of ZERO1-MAX's most loyal fans from the crowd and began to beat and humiliate him. Corino announced he hated Japan and yelled "3-2-1 ZERO1-USA!" before several Japanese fighters ran in and chased the Americans off.

The semi-main event saw former PWF Universal Tag Team champs Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita beat Spanky and Alex Shelley in a decision match for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Titles. Hidaka and Fujita won the match and the titles when Hidaka pinned Spanky. Afterwards the victors announced that they desire to face NOAH's Global Honored Crown Junior Heavyweight Tag Team champs KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji in May to determine who is the best Junior tag team in the country.

The third title match on the card was for the NWA United National title between Kohei Sato and CW Anderson. Anderson showed his veteran smarts in this match, attacking Kohei's right foot continually and eventually submitting the '04 Fire Festival champion for the victory. CW Anderson has been on a tear since returning to ZERO1, winning the PWF tag titles with Corino (for the second time) and now winning the NWA UN title.

And in a big win for entrance into the AWA World Junior Tournament, Sonjay Dutt defeated dominant ZERO1-MAX Junior (and anywhere else for that matter), Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a little over 15 minutes with the Phoenix Splash despite being dropped on his head numerous time with the top rope brainbusters and a spider suplex.

Another title match saw Spanky win the US Openweight title in a decision match against Ryouji Sai. This was a decision match as Steve Corino vacated the title when he entered himself into the AWA Heavyweight Championship tournament. This is the first time Spanky has held this title.

The main event had some heavy hitters in Otani and Riki Choshu versus Kohei and Omori in a tag match. Otani wants the AWA Heavyweight title badly, and is very amped for his March 27th 3-way dance against Omori and Corino for a shot at the title. Otani took out Kohei with the Spiral Bomb for the win.

Other matches saw Tanaka team with Apache Army (and former fellow FMW wrestler) Tetsu Kuroda to defeat Takaiwa and Alex Shelley. Fudo to beat Nami, and WJ wrestler Takashi Uwano beat Fuyuki Takahashi.

The third match was the mixed tag-team match pitting Steve Corino and Amazing Kong against Spanky and Saki Maemura (Kong and Saki are from All Japan Women). Some of you might remember last summer during the Fire Festival Amazing Kong tried to enter the tournament but was refused by Hashimoto. Will we be seeing more female talent in ZERO1-MAX in the future? Corino finally got the win against Spanky with the Choshu lariat, and received a big kiss from Kong. Afterwards the gaijin danced together. Corino stated in the post-match interview that he wants to take the AWA Heavyweight title and bring the belt to America. Amazing Kong said she wanted a singles match against Otani, and if she wins she wants in this years Fire Festival.

The fourth bout was a qualifying match for the AWA World Jr. tournament pitting Takaiwa against former New Japan Dojo wrestler and Havana Pitbull, Ricky Reyes. Takaiwa won with the 3-in-a-row Death Valley powerbombs.

Jay Lethal tagged with a returning to Japan CW Anderson against PWF Universal Tag Team Champions Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita. Lethal told the press that he was very happy to go to Japan as he considers himself a student of his sport and greatly respects the Japanese respect for pro wrestling as well. He added that he can't wait to return. After the match, when Hidaka beat Lethal with the "Misty Flip," Fujita called Corino into the ring (he was there as a second for his fellow Extreme Horsemen CW Anderson) and said when Hidaka and he face Corino and Anderson on 3/23 for the PWF Universal Tag Team belts. Corino and Anderson are former holders of those titles.

The semi-main event saw former allies and upcoming opponents Shinjiro Otani and Takao Omori on opposite teams. Otani teamed with Kohei Sato and Omori with Ryouji Sai. Omori entered with the AWA Heavyweight belt on his shoulder, and Otani immediately attacked the champ, gave him the Facewash, grabbed the belt and posed with it. Through the whole match Otani attacked Omori's right arm and said when they face each other in the AWA Heavyweight 3-way on March 27th the champ will not be able to even use that arm.

The main event had an interesting cast of characters, with Masato Tanaka and Alex Shelley versus the returning Dick Togo against Sonjay Dutt. This was a hardcore TLC (Tables, Ladder & Chairs) match that saw Togo bleed early and just gush blood to the point they applied a quick tourniquet. Lot of violence in this one, as would be expected, with everybody taking a table, lader and chair to the face. There was also lots of brawling around Korakuen Hall, but plenty of high flying as well. Tanaka set ladder on the stage and hit the "Super Fly" frog splash on Togo who was lying on a table. Sonjay eventually hit the Phoenix Splash on Shelley for the win.

Afterwards, Masato Tanaka got on the microphone and announced that he's been invited to fight at the upcoming WWE run ECW pay-per-view and has accepted the offer.

Otani also mentioned how he believes the interest of pre-teen children is important to help the wrestling business regain strength and popularity, as he himself was drawn to wrestling as a child (so too were most of us). He also said when the kids go to school the next day they will talk to each other and ask each other if they went to the ZERO1-MAX show that weekend or the night before.

Other things he touched on included Super Crazy's injury and removal from the upcoming tour, plus how Otani intends to provide wrestling "like the good old days" from the Yasukuni Shrine on the 10th of April.