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ZERO <ONE Knight STAND> ~ Wasshoi!! ~ on 7/11 in Korakuen Hall!
June 16th, 2010
ZERO1 will be holding a show on 7/11 in Korakuen Hall with a main event of Kohei Sato defending the World Heavyweight title. July 11th is also the day ZERO-ONE founder and pro wrestling legend Shinya Hashimoto passed away back in 2005. While ZERO1 has held commemorative events for their former President in the past, their event has never fallen on the exact day of Hashimoto's death. As of now only two matches have been announced, revealing two gaijin wrestlers coming in to battle ZERO1 wrestlers.
Previously announced former WWE & TNA wrestler Shawn Daivari will be coming in to face Masato Tanaka in a singles bout. Daivari had challenged Tanaka directly, saying as a former ECW Heavyweight champion he is one of the most well-known Japanese wrestlers in the USA. Tanaka accepted the challenge and ZERO1 announced the match titled World Vintage Action, and Daivari said he promises to "...have a match with Tanaka that wrestling fans around the world will be proud of."
Also announced is the return of Chris "Bambi Killer" Raaber as a challenger to Kohei in the main event. Raaber is known to ZERO1 fans as he's appeared in the company's ring several times in the past. His most recent appearance was alongside The Predator and a challenge of KAZAN for the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles. He also appeared in the Fire Festival '05 and scored a big win over former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and AJPW Triple Crown Champion Kensuke Sasaki in Korakuen Hall. Raaber also spent time training in WWE for a year. This is Raaber's first World Heavyweight Title challenge and will be Kohei's attempt at a 3rd defense.
WPF Resurgence?! Representative Visits New ZERO1 Dojo!
June 15th, 2010
Back in 2008, a mysterious gaijin wrestling company based in Dubai known as the WPF (World Premium Federation) challenged ZERO1. They had stated their goal was the "rebirth of the professional wrestling industry" and that they planned to take over the wrestling business in Japan.
They originally targeted ZERO1 because they said they felt it was low hanging fruit and vunerable to their takeover. While the WPF originally put up a challenge by sending numerous gaijin wrestlers, it abruptly ended.
Today former WPF representative Oscar David came to the new ZERO1 Dojo much to the surprise of the ZERO1 staff! He met with FIRST ON STAGE Director Yoshiyuki Nakamura but also answered some of our questions:
ZERO1: Where has the WPF been for the last year and a half?
Oscar David: We had our own financial crisis in Dubai and suffered a serious loss. Though we were still interested in the pro wrestling business we had to release our entire roster.
ZERO1: What was the purpose of your visit here today?
OD: I came to Japan on business, but I learned of the new ZERO1 dojo on Facebook and wanted to come congratulate you. The dojo is very nice and the staff seems happy. This seems like it will be very beneficial to pro wrestling in Tokyo.
ZERO1: Is WPF still interested in Japanese pro wrestling?
OD: We still believe in "YES WE CAN" but I can't reveal anything just yet. If we did we would want to have a business idea that's stronger than the one from before.
ZERO1 WRESTLER'S - Kooriyama -
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| FIGHT CARD | ||
| SNIPE! Battle Royal |
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| Order of Elimination: Shito Ueda → Yoshikazu Yokoyama → Yuzuru Saito & Lingerie Muto → KAMIKAZE → Kohei Sato → Rikiya Fudo → Masato Tanaka → Ryoji Sai → Shinjiro Otani → FUNAKI → Ikuto Hidaka → Kenta Kakinuma → Shota Takanishi X & Kikutaro X → Akebono O |
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| (12:39→ Yokozuna Press - simultaneous elimination) | ||
| KAZAN's Tohoku First Landing! Tag Match |
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| Shinjiro Otani (ZERO1) O Akebono (Free) |
vs. | Kohei Sato (ZERO1) Rikiya Fudo X (Free) |
| (17:48 → Dai Kazan) | ||
| First Tanaka vs. FUNAKI Confrontation Since Return! 6-Man Tag Match |
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| Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) KAMIKAZE (ZERO1) X Kenta Kakinuma (ZERO1) |
vs. | FUNAKI (Free) Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1) Munenori Sawa O (BattlArts) |
| (16:36 → Octopus Hold) | ||
| Single Match | ||
| O Ryoji Sai (ZERO1) |
vs. | Kikutaro X (Free) |
| (8:59 → Figure-4 Reversal) | ||
| Tag Match | ||
| O Shota Takanishi (ZERO1) Yuzuru Saito (ZERO1) |
vs. | Shito Ueda (ZERO1) Yoshikazu Yokoyama X (ZERO1) |
| (11:13→ Sheep Wing) | ||
KAZAN 4th Defense of NWA Intercontinental Tag Titles at WRESTLER'S 12!
June 10th, 2010
ZERO1 WRESTLER'S 12 was held in Tokyo's Shinjuku FACE on June 10th where in the main event, current NWA Intercontinental Tag Team champions Shinjiro Otani & Akebono defeated the challengers of the "Teacher & Pupil" tag of FUNAKI and Ikuto Hidaka. Before the match there was an official signing ceremony in the ring where Otani made the bold statement that he would, "...end this match in under 5 minutes.." The assembled ZERO1 fans began to chant his name in support of the ZERO1 President.
While the skilled challengers gave them more resistance than that, Akebono showed his size and power throughout the match to overwhelm the Jr. class fighters. It was this advantage that scored the win for KAZAN as Akebono caught Hidaka under him and put his weight down to get the 3 count!
After the win Otani again addressed the crowd, saying that "Akebono continues to get better, and I promise we will protect these belts all the time and have a long defense."
Also on the card were two Fire Festival '10 assessment matches as the schedule for the annual tournament has been announced though the participants have not. The semi-main event was Ready to The Sword and saw last year's tournament champion Ryoji Sai face off against BJW's Daisuke Sekimoto.
Going into the final day of last year's Fire Festival '09, both men were tied in points along with Masato Tanaka at 5 each. In a 3-Way decision match Ryouji pinned Masato Tanaka and went on to defeat Kohei Sato in the finals. If Sekimoto participates in this year's Fire Festival '10 it will be his 6th appearance in the tournament.
Today's match was a long and grueling affair that saw both men display strong offense and defense, and escape numerous close pinfalls. Through the intense match the crowd became very heated as the two wrestlers continued to rise up, and it finally ended when the 30 minutes time limit ran out.
Following the match, Ryouji spoke about his older brother Ryo Sai, also known by his Korean name as Young "RYO" Choi. RYO is a MMA fighter who on June 6th defeated Japanese pro wrestler/MMA fighter Katsuyori Shibata at DEEP 45 - Cage Impact 2010 in Osaka via unanimous decision. Ryouji not only challenged his brother RYO to a wrestling match, he also said he wants RYO to participate in the Fire Festival '10 and hopes they can be in separate blocks so they can meet in the finals.
Masato Tanaka, a 3x consecutive Fire Festival winner (2006-2008) also had a match called Full Swing against BattlArts' Munenori Sawa. FIRST ON STAGE director Yoshiyuki Nakamura had said earlier that he would like to see Sawa gain entry into the tournament this year.
Sadly for Sawa, the ZERO1 heavyweight overwhelmed him from bell-to-bell winning with the Sliding-D in 11½ minutes. "It is physical strength and endurance that is the most important in the Fire Festival," Tanaka said following his win. "Taking that into consideration I definitely have a big advantage in that area." Tanaka said he felt he had been deprived of his victory last year and looks to remedy that this year.
ZERO1 WRESTLER'S 12
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| FIGHT CARD | ||
| NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles | ||
| Shinjiro Otani © (ZERO1) O Akebono © (Free) |
vs. | Ikuto Hidaka X (ZERO1) FUNAKI (Free) |
| (11:15 → Roll-Up Reversal) | ||
| Ready to The Sword Single Match |
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| Δ Ryoji Sai (ZERO1) |
vs. | Daisuke Sekimoto Δ (BJW) |
| (30:00 → Time Limit Draw) | ||
| Full Swing Single Match |
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| O Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) |
vs. | Munenori Sawa X (BattlArts) |
| (11:29 → Sliding D) | ||
| WEW Tag Team Titles | ||
| O Kohei Sato © (ZERO1) KAMIKAZE © (ZERO1) |
vs. | Minoru Fujita X (Free) NOSAWA (Free) |
| (18:20 → Giant Magistral) | ||
| Tag Match | ||
| Rikiya Fudo (Free) X Shito Ueda (ZERO1) |
vs. | Kenta Kakinuma O (ZERO1) Yuki Sato (Free) |
| (10:50 → Jackknife Crab Hold) | ||
| Tag Match | ||
| Shota Takanishi (ZERO1) O Yuzuru Saito (ZERO1) |
vs. | Kazuhiro Tamura (STYLE-E) Yoshikazu Yokoyama X (ZERO1) |
| (10:53 → SK-D) | ||
Shawn Daivari Challenges Tanaka for ZERO1 WRESTLER'S ~ Wasshoi!! ~ on 7/11!
June 3rd, 2010
ZERO1 has been contacted by former WWE/TNA wrestler Shawn Daivari with an open challenge for ZERO1 wrestler Masato Tanaka. Daivari is a 10 year veteran of pro wrestling and a former TNA X-Division Championship and sent the following comment:
"Japan is far away, and for such a long trip I want to make sure there is a strong challenge on the other end. I want that to be a match with Masato Tanaka. Though I have wrestled fror WWE and TNA, it was Tanaka who became a legend in the wrestling world with ECW. He is the only Japanese ECW World Heavyweight championship in history. Let's have a battle of strength and skill Tanaka, I await your response to my challenge."
ZERO1 has announced that Tanaka and Daivari will happen on July 11th for ZERO1 WRESTLER'S ~ Wasshoi!! ~ in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall.
FUNAKI & Hidaka Score Another Victory in HUSTLE!
May 30th, 2010
The newly formed "Master & Pupil" tag team of FUNAKI & Ikuto Hidaka continued their tag team winning streak by defeating another Master/Student pair in HUSTLE today. The match was titled THE HISTORY OF RING and saw the BattlArts' "Master & Pupil" versus the Fujiwara Gumi pairing of Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Katsumi Usuda.
Usuda and Hidaka went at it with hard kicks before FUNAKI entered to face Fujiwara. The legendary grappler went right for FUNAKI's arm and the hold he invented, but the former WWE wrestler was able to escape to the outside. "Get back in here, this isn't the WWE!" Fujiwara yelled at him.
Though the bout was fairly matched, with lots of kicks, submissions and headbutt from Fujiwara, it was FUNAKI who sealed the victory with a backslide on Usuda at just under 14 minutes for the victory. Following the match, all four wrestlers bowed deeply to each other in the center of the ring. This is another good victory for the FUNAKI & Hidaka tag team leading into the 6/10 ZERO1 WRESTLER'S 12 show where they will challenge for the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles held by the KAZAN team of Shinjiro Otani & Akebono.
HUSTLE
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| FIGHT CARD | ||
| THE HISTORY OF RING Match #2 Tag Match |
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| Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Fujiwara Gumi) X Katsumi Usuda (BML) |
vs. | FUNAKI O (Free) Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1) |
| (13:50 → Backslide) | ||
