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| Press Conference: Final
Show - ZERO1 LAND! December 5th, 2005 |
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A press conference was held today at the
ZERO1-MAX offices in Tokyo regarding the final show of 2005.
"ZERO1 LAND" will be held on 12/13 at Korakuen Hall.
All the elite members of the roster, save for Team ROWDY,
attended and commented on the announced line-up. Shinjiro
Otani commented on his singles match against Takao Omori saying
that he'd like to end this year, the first year of ZERO1-MAX,
with a victory. Omori, on the other hand, said he is looking
at their singles match as a way to gain momentum going into
2006.
Kohei Sato wasn't present at the press conference, but
Otani did comment that Kohei's singles match against Kawada
will be a difficult ordeal for the youngster. Hidaka and
Fujita only added about their NWA Lightweight titles that
the more they've thought about it, the more the stealing
of Fujita's title belt by Sugawara gets to them.
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| Sugawara's Challenge! Card
for 2005 Final! December 4th, 2005 |
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At today's show in Fukaya, Japan, one half
of the reigning tag team champs in ZERO1-MAX, Minoru Fujita,
was defeated in a tag match by Takuya Sugawara. Fujita was
teamed with Tatsuhito Takaiwa (Ikuto Hidaka being his nomral
tag partner and co-champion), and Sugawara was teamed with
GAMMA. Following his victory, Sugawara laid down the challenge
for a shot at the NWA International Lightweight tag titles,
and to provoke Fujita he then stole the champ's Lightweight
title belt!
The champs were quick to respond, saying they accept the challenge and will put ther belts up on the last show of the year - "ZERO1 LAND" on 12/23. Sugawara is also facing current WWA World Welterweight Champion, Katsuhiko Nakajima, for that title on 12/11. As for other matches on the final show of the year, the card was announced with a double main event of Otani versus Takao Omori, and Kohei Sato versus "Dangerous K" Toshiaki Kawada. Omori has been looking at getting back at Otani for bringing his former roomate from New Japan, the "debt king" Tadao Yasuda, into ZERO1-MAX and teaming him with Omori. For Kohei this will be the first of two big singles matches coming up for him, as soon after this match he will be facing Shinsuke Nakamura on 1/4 for New Japan Pro Wrestling at the Tokyo Dome. Visiting fighters booked for "ZERO1 LAND" show are:
Takaiwa will be teamed with two NOAH fighters, Kotaro Suzuki and Ricky Marvin, in a 6-man against his student Osamu Namiguchi and two young juniors Taiji Ishimori of Dragondoor and Iufushi Kota from DDT. Masato Tanaka and Yoshihito Sasaki will tag againt NOSAWA and Mazada in a No DQ "Falls Count Anywhere" match. |
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| Grizzled Namiguchi! December 4th, 2005 |
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 Osamu
Namiguchi is currently in Mexico, and will be appearing on
the December 12th TORYUMON MEXICO show at the Arena Coliseo.
He'll be taking on Los Salseros Japoneses' member Banana Senga
in the "Young Dragons Cup" Quarterfinals. The tournament is
decided on one day, so if he wins his match he'll have to
still fight in two more matches before winning.
Nami will be appearing back in ZERO1-MAX at the final 12/23 show teamed with fellow young fighters Taiji Ishimori of Dragondoor and Iufushi Kota of DDT against Tatsuhito Takaiwa, NOAH's Kotaro Suzuki and NOAH's Ricky Marvin. |
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| Updated ZERO1-MAX vs. New
Japan for 1/4! November 30th, 2005 |
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Updated ZERO1-MAX inclusion in the NJWP
"Toukon Shidou Chapter 1," Tokyo Dome was announced by New
Japan booker Riki Choshu. Previously announced participants
were Shinjiro Otani, Kohei Sato, and Takao Omori (teamed with
former NWA Intercontinental Tag Team partner - Shiro Koshinaka).
Masato Tanaka, Ryouji Sai, Tatsuhito Takaiawa, Yoshihito Sasaki
and Kamikaze will all now be appearing on the show. In an
interesting turn of events, former NWA Intercontinental Tag
Team Champions, Takao Omori and Shiro Koshinaka will be battling
for the IWGP Tag Team titles against Masa Chono and Hiroyoshi
Tenzan.
Also, former NWA International Lightweight Tag Team champions Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Tomohiro Ishii will once more join together to battle Tiger Mask and Minoru Tanaka in a tag match. Ryouji Sai will battle Naofumi Yamamoto one-on-one in the opening bout of the show. And continuing the pairing of familiar partners, Masato Tanaka will join with his former FMW compadres and Apache Army members Kintaro Kanemura and BADBOY Hido, to go against Jushin "Thunder" Liger, and two others familiar with FMW - Jado and Gedo. Full Card listed below, with ZERO1-MAX fighters listed in red:
Card subject to change of course. |
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| War of Words Between Z1-MAX
and NJPW! November 26th, 2005 |
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As has been reported here, ZERO1-MAX and
New Japan fighters have been sharing nasty verbal barbs between
them. ZERO1-MAX wrestlers and Mr. Nakamura commented on New
Japan's recent quality after the 11/23 Korakuen Hall show
and their sagging attendance records, causing New Japan's
Yuji Nagata to fire back.
Nagata said that ZERO1-MAX is an indy promotion and none of its fighters even come close to the level of wrestler in New Japan. |
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| Hidaka & Fujita Defeat
EMBLEM! November 23rd, 2005 |
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Today at the Korakuen Hall show of the
"MAX Around" tour, current NWA Lightweight Tag Team
champs and still reigning NWA Intercontinental Tag Team champions
defended the latter belts against the formidable team of Shinjiro
Otani and Masato Tanaka (Team EMBLEM) in a bout that went
almost a half-hour.
Victory came in 27:27 in front of a hot crowd, as Otani brought Hidaka up to hit his Spiral Bomb finisher. Hidaka reversed the movein into an inside cradle and held onto Otani's tights as the ref counted the pinfall. Hidaka explained afterwards that he didn't mean to cheat, but in the quick moment of desperation he wanted to hold on and grabbed wheverever he could. He said defeating such a decorated tag team alongside his partner Fujita is a great moment in his career. This marks Hidaka & Fujita's first defense of their Intercontinental Tag Team titles since winning them from Team ROWDY on October 11th.
Hidaka and Fujita (along with Masato Tanaka) were originally scheduled to come to the US for matches in WORLD-1 and UXW this weekend, but due to Otani wanting to run tribute shows for recent earthquake victims in Japan, they're staying behind to appear on those shows. ZERO1-MAX has added two free admission shows to the "MAX Around" tour on 11/26 and 11/27 to help raise money for the earthquake victims. Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Takehiro Murahama's match from earlier on the card was cut short due to an injury to Murahama's leg.
 After the ZERO1-MAX show ended, New Japan Pro Wrestling ran an evening event at Korakuen Hall directly after. During the Shinsuke Nakamura and Yuji Nagata versus Masahiro Chono and Black Strong Machine tag match, Mr. Nakamura, Ryouji Sai, Kohei Sato and Tatsuhito Takiawa came out and sat in the bleachers to scout Shinsuke Nakamura for Kohei's upcoming singles match against him on the 1/4 NJPW show "Toukon Shidou Chapter 1." Kohei walked out before the match was over, claiming he was bored with the whole affair. Earlier in the day, after the Z1 show, Kohei had mentioned that he and Nakamura perhaps should have a shoot fight instead of a wrestling match at the Tokyo Dome. Takiawa and Mr. Nakamura made general remarks on New Japan, saying that the promotion is a shell of its former self. |
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| Free Shows for Niigata
Earthquake Relief! November 20th, 2005 |
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Shinjiro Otani announced today that two
free admission shows will be added to the current "MAX
Around" tour for victims of the recent earthquakes in
Japan's Niigata Prefecture.
The shows will take place on 11/26 and 11/27. The 11/26 show will take place in the Ojiya City Gym with a max capacity of 3,000 people. The 11/27 show will take place at the Cross 10 Toka Machi Conference with a maximum capacity of 700 fans. No fight cards have been released yet though Otani has said their will be a tug-of-war stipulation for the 11/26 show. Announced participants of the shows so far are: Tadao Yasuda, GAMMA, GENTARO, Takuya Sugawara, Milanito Collection AT, Amazing Kong and Ran Maru. |
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Yoshihito Sasaki and Kamikaze will be in a 10-man tag team
match, teamed alongside RIKIPRO fighters Riki Choshu and
Takashi Uwano and Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Daisuke Sekimoto.
Tatsumi Fujinami, Osamu Nishimura, Yutaka Yoshie, Hirooki
Goto and Hiroshi Nagao will be their New Japan opponents.
Choshu's inclusion on the "outsiders" side of this match
is interesting, as many of the NJPW wrestlers are dissatisfied
with his appointment. Perhaps he's looking to test his current
charges...
Also
on the show, the "Fallen Angel" Chistopher Daniels made
his ZERO1-MAX debut by capturing the US Openweight title
in a 3-way dance against former champ Alex Shelley, and
Sonjay Dutt. Victory came for the new champ when he hit
Shelley with his "Angel's Wings" finisher.
