Home » News Archive » News from 05/29/05 to 06/12/05

Corino Wins AWA Heavyweight Title!

June 12th, 2005

The following statement is taken from the AWA USA Website:

"Steve Corino scored a pinfall in just over 13-minutes of action to capture the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Takao Omori. Both Corino and Omori were bloody from the hard fought contest. This was the second of three chances that Corino secured to wrest the title from the champion in his tour of the United States.

"Omori has successfully defended the title the previous night in Waldron, Michigan over Corino and Hoss Monaham in a 3-way defense. The AWA sanctioned Michigan territory, UCW, hosted the title bouts.

"Samurai TV was in attendance to film the historic U.S. tour by Omori as well as AWA President, Dale Gagne. When interviewed by Samurai TV, Gagne stated that the bout was 'absolutely incredible.'

"Many other members of the Japanese press were in Michigan to cover the tour as well.

"By winning the AWA World Heavyweight Title, Corino etched his name on one of the most elite lists of wrestling champions, becoming only the third person to ever have held both the AWA and NWA World Heavyweight Championships. Pat O'Connor and Gene Kiniski are the only others to have ever accomplished this feat."

Otani defeats Tiger Mask I At Real Japan Pro!

June 9th, 2005

Real Japan Pro Wrestling had their inaugural show today at Korakuen Hall in front of a packed house of 1,628 rabid fans. The main event featured ZERO1-MAX top fighter, Shinjiro Otani, versus Satoru Sayama, aka Tiger Mask I (Super Tiger). Tiger Mask came out with his original yellow and black mask, but then removed it to reveal a new silver and black one.

And while Tiger Mask I scored with multiple kicks, and almost won a victory after a flurry of offense followed up with a cross arm breaker. Earlier in the match, Otani managed to hit the spinning heel kick and get the facewash in the corner. There was a tense moment for Otani when after receiving a pescado from Tiger Mask on the outside, Otani was almost counted out but found himself able to get back in the ring just at the 18 count!

Eventually Otani was able to grab Sayama's arm and lock on the King Cobra hold for the submission victory at just over 10½ minutes. In a post match interview, Tiger Mask stated he has great appreciation for Shinjiro Otani and with his loss he has even more respect for him now. Real Japan's next show is scheduled for September 26, 2005 back at Korakuen Hall.

Daisuke Ikeda in Fire Festival Participation!

June 7th, 2005

Today at the ZERO1-MAX office in Tokyo, freelance fighter Daisuke Ikeda appeared before the sports media and announced his intention of participating in this years Fire Festival. Ikeda was under contract with Pro-Wrestling NOAH up to the end of last year, but declared himself freelance in January.

Somebody who was not pleased with Ikeda entering the Fire Festival was Young MAX member and one half of the NWA International Tag Team champions - Ryoji Sai. Sai stormed into the press conference and had to be restrained from attacking Ikeda. Sai's complaint was an outsider taking a coveted spot in the prestigious tournament.

Shinjiro Otani's idea for reconciling this situation was to set up a match at the upcoming Korakuen Hall show on 6/17 between Ikeda and Sai, with the stipulation that if Ikeda wins over Sai he will cement a spot in the tourney. Ikeda will also be participating in the two shows following the opening of "Survivar 72H" on the 6/18 and 6/19.

Mr. Nakamura also announced that the main event of the 6/17 show will be the singles match for the AWA/ZERO1/UPW/WORLD-1 International Jr. title between current NWA International Lightweight tag team partners - Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita.

Hidaka said while it's a little akward to be battling his partner in such a big match, he knows Fujita is the #1 contender to the title. Mr. Nakamura said while it's a little different to have a Junior match as the main event, the success of the Tenka-Ichi tournament and Differ Cup was the inspiration for the idea.

ZERO1-MAX Fighters To Battle In the USA!

June 4th, 2005

Omori To Defend AWA Title In Michigan
AWA World Heavyweight champion Takao Omori returns to the United States for the first time in almost three years as he is set to defend his title in Michigan for AWA Ultimate Championship Wrestling this coming weekend (6/10 - 6/12). Omori's first and second defenses will take place in Waldorn and Bay City and will be against AWA number one American contender - Steve Corino.

AWA-Japan General Manager Oscar David has told AWA President Dale Gagne that June 10 and 11 will be Corino's last chance at the AWA crown. It was also David's idea to have the champ defend his title three days in a row. Omori will also be appearing on the afternoon of June 12 in Mount Clemens, MI.

Masato Tanaka Gets Extreme In NYC!!!
And next weekend will also mark the return to the United States of Masato Tanaka, as he will be appearing at the WWE's production of ECW: One Night Stand. Tanaka, a former ECW World champion, was last in the United States in April 2004 for Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1. It is not known who Tanaka will be wrestling on Sunday night live on Pay Per View with his rumored opponent being long time rival Mike "The Gladiator" Awesome. Visit www.wwe.com for more information. Good luck in the US for these two great ZERO1-MAX fighters.

NWA United National Champ Returns Home!

June 4th, 2005

Current NWA United National Heavyweight champion CW Anderson will return to his "extreme" roots next Sunday night as the WWE presents ECW:One Night Stand live on pay-per-view from New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

"The Enforcer," who was a member of Extreme Championship Wrestling from mid-1999 to the last day of the company's existance, will also be appearing Friday night June 10th at the Hardcore Homecoming show in Philadelphia, PA at the New Alhambra Arena (former ECW Arena/Viking Hall). This event will also be heavily flavored with an ECW cast.

Anderson has wrestled some recent matches in the World Wrestling Entertainment and we here at www.zerooneusa.com wish CW Anderson the best of luck this weekend.

E-CW!!! E-CW!!! E-CW!!!

ZERO1-MAX Press Conference: Tenka-Ichi vs. Super Junior?

May 30th, 2005

Today at the Tokyo offices of ZERO1-MAX, company President Mr. Nakamura and Shinjiro Otani held a press conference to announce the company's upcoming schedule and details on this year's "Fire Festival."

In addition, newly crowed Tenka-Ichi Jr. champion Yoshihito Sasaki was on hand for a special announcement by Mr. Nakamura. Nakamura-san said he will be having a meeting with New Japan Pro Wrestling's President, Simon Inoki, to discuss the idea of the ZERO1-MAX Tenka-Ichi Jr. champ facing off one-on-one with the winner of the NJPW's "Best of the Super Jr." tournament in NJPW. Mr. Nakamura said he wants to see this match so the true best of the Japanese super Junior would be recognized. Otani said he is in agreement with this idea and would like to see that himself.

When asked for a comment, Sasaki said that he hopes that Wataru Inoue wins the tournament because he trained with Inoue at the Animal Hamaguchi Dojo while they were starting out as pro-wrestlers.

UPW's "WWE 3" Fire Festival Participation!

May 30th, 2005

The following press release is from the UPW website:

UPW is happy to announce that The Hardkore Kidd (Aaron "Jesus" Aquilera), Horshu (Luther Reigns), and Ryan Sakoda are all returning to the active roster! To welcome them back, UPW has booked their "WWE 3" as follows:

• ZERO1-MAX: June 17, 18, 19 ("Survivar 72H")
• ZERO1-MAX: July 29 - Aug 7 ("Fire Festival '05")

All three of these superstars will also be appearing on the July, September and November HUSTLE tours.

"I am very happy to have all 3 of these extremely talented individuals back in the UPW family. Not only do I consider them to be some of the finest people in the business today, but I also consider them very good friends" - UPW owner Rick Bassman was quoted as saying.

Yoshihito Sasaki Wins Tenka-Ichi Jr. Title!

May 29th, 2005

In a surprising victory, the 2004 "Lion King Cup" winner was triumphant in this year's Tenka-Ichi Jr. tournament! Yoshihito Sasaki was victorious by first defeating last year's winner Tatsuhito Takaiwa in the Semi-Finals, and then freelance fighter Takehiro Murahama in the Finals of the tournament.

This could be a big stepping stone for Sasaki, who has had a streaky career with bot success and failure since coming to ZERO1-MAX from the defunct Frontier Martial-arts Wrestling (FMW). Sasaski lost his first confrontation with Takaiwa on 5/20 in the tournament, so he was somewhat lucky due to the rules of the tourney going head-to-head again due to a points' tie. Time will tell if Sasaki can use this a platform to go to the next level of pro wrestling.