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Road to the Tenka-Ichi Jr. Tournament 2007!

September 19th, 2007

Directly following the "Passion Cup '07 Tag Tournament" will be the customary jr. heavyweight tournament "Tenka-Ichi 2007." Many of the participants of the tournament gave an interview in Tokyo about the tourney which kicks off on September 25 in Shizuoka, Japan. The participants were all given their individual Dragon Ball trophies, which they will relinquish to those who defeat them until one wrestler holds them all.

Masato Tanaka, the 2007 "Fire Festival" winner and first time jr. class wrestler commented about his chances in the tournament. As we know, Tanaka went on a crash diet to drop weight and qualify for the tournament. Tanaka will face Naoki Tanizaki in his first match on September 28.

"This fight for me will be more difficult than the "Fire Festival" Heavyweight tournament. Once you lose you're out of the tournament, so I have to be careful. Furthermore, as for my opponents, other than Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita I've never faced any of them, so I need to take care there as well."

Last year's "Tenka-Ichi jr." champion, Minoru Fujita, was also present to comment. Fujita will be facing DRAGON GATE wrestler Masaaki Mochizuki in his first match. Fujita faced Mochizuki on 8/2 in a 6-man tag where it was Fujita taking the fall from Mochizuki's high kick. Previous to that, Fujita teamed with Hidaka took part on the January 25th "Masaaki Mochizuki Produce" show in Korakuen Hall. Once again the match ended with Fujita going down to the high kick.

Fujita promised revenge for these defeats, "My first match is again Mochizuki who has beaten me twice. I think that I will repay the debt." Mochizuki on the other hand felt he had beaten Fujita twice and will so again, making it clear that he is gunning for Masato Tanaka.

Passion Cup '07 Press Conference!

September 19th, 2007

Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX held a press conference today addressing the upcoming 1-day "Passion Cup Tag Tournament '07" on September 24th. The prize has been set a 1 million yen, presented by the Aquamarine Studio where the event is taking place.

Several of the participants were on hand to comment about the upcoming tournament, Center stage were the team of Masato Tanaka and Ikuto Hidaka, and the "Brothers" team of Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara.

Masato Tanaka & Ikuto Hidaka

Tanaka: "I don't think we can be defeated with such a strong team. The prize is surly won by us."

Hidaka: "Our team exceeds all the others in speed, power and technique. We will win the Champion's prize."

Minoru Fujita & Takuya Sugawara (El Dorado)

Fujita: "Sugawara and I have competed more as a tag team than any others in the tournament. I don't think the other teams have a chance to beat us."

Sugawara: "This is a great opportunity for us to show what we're about."

Shinjiro Otani & Fuyuki Takahashi

Takahashi: "There is no way to explain my feelings for teaming with Shinjiro Otani in this tournament. Especially as one of my final pro wrestling memories. We will win the victory."

Ryouji Sai & Yoshihito Sasaki

Sai: "We will definitely win all 3 matches. This team is superb as we have both youth and power. We will have a hot match that will prove the name "Passion Cup."

Takao Omori & Kamikaze

Kamikaze: "I'm looking to gain a foothold here so I can challenge for the tag titles again with Omori. Our team will win by technique and our powerful skills."

Osamu Namiguchi & LTP

Namiguchi: "We will do our best. The result will prove it."

Passion Cup Tag Tournament '07!

September 13th, 2007

ZERO1-MAX announced their "Aqua Special" shows at Kimitsu aquamarine studio will be one day tag tournaments for the "Passion Cup." ZERO1-MAX will hold its tournament on September 24th, and Pro Wrestling SUN will hold its tournament the previous day on September 23rd.

Six teams will compete on both the menss and women's show. The six ZERO1-MAX teams are:

• Masato Tanaka & Ikuto Hidaka
• Takao Omori & Kamikaze
• Minoru Fujita & Takuya Sugawara
• Yoshihito Sasaki & Ryouji Sai
• Shinjiro Otani & Fuyuki Takahashi
• Osamu Namiguchi & LTP

The Pro Wrestling SUN Women's "Passion Cup Tag Tournament '07" will take place the day before with the following 6 teams:

• Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki☆Taiyo
• Hikaru & Atsuko Emoto
• Saki Maemura & Fuuka
• Kayoko Haruyama (JWP) & Arisa Nakajima (JWP)
• Aja Kong & ZEST Co
• Kana & Shu Shibutani

Fuyuki Takahashi Announces Retirement!

September 11th, 2007

ZERO1-MAX pro wrestler Fuyuki Takahashi announced his retirement today at the First On Stage offices in Tokyo.

"The end of my professional wrestling life is here and I will return to private life on September 30th."

ZERO1-MAX leader Shinjiro Otani was also present and said Takahashi had requested to retire 4 months ago but they wanted him to stick around. When he asked a second time they didn't oppose him.

Takahashi said he doesn't feel the passion he used to going to the ring, and that continuing wrestling with that feeling wasn't good for him or fair to the ZERO1-MAX fan. He said he will find an office job and wear a suit now, but wants to continue to assist ZERO1-MAX going into the future. He said he has many memories, both positive and negative, from when he broke his leg to when he battled Kohei Sato for the ZERO1-MAX UN Heavyweight title on June 23, 2006.

"I have no regrets, and I want my 5 remaining matches to be some of my best."

These will be on 9/15, 9/24, 9/25, 9/28 and 9/30. The final match will be at Korakauen Hall on the final day of the Tenka-Ichi Jr. Tournament 2007. Otani said he will take part in Takahashi's final match in Korakuen Hall. Takahashi added that he also wanted Tatsuhito Takaiwa in the match since he was with Takahashi in his first match back in ZERO-ONE.

His final match will be Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa versus Takao Omori and Fuyuki Takahashi.

Tenka-Ichi Jr. Tournament Roster Finalized!

September 10th, 2007

Now that Masato Tanaka has cleared weight to participate in the "Tenka-Ichi Jr. Tournament," the roster and scheduling has been finalized. AWA gaijin wrestler Chad Malenko has also been added as the final addition to the tournament.

• Masato Tanaka ("Fire Festival" '06 and '07 Champion)
• Dick Togo (4th AWA World jr. Champ)
• Munenori Sawa (BattlArts; Lion King Cup '07 MVP)
• Naoki Tanizaki (freelance)
• Katsushi Takemura (Muga World Pro Wrestling)
• Minoru Fujita (1st AWA World jr. Champ)
• Ikuto Hidaka (2nd AWA World jr. Champ)
• Takuya Sugawara (El Dorado)
• Masaaki Mochizuki (DRAGON GATE)
• Chad Malenko (AWA)

As previously reported the Tenka Ichi Jr. Tournament 2007 will take place on 9/25, 9/28 and 9/30.

Tanaka Weighs In!

September 10th, 2007

Masato Tanaka's weigh-in to qualify for the Tenka-Ichi jr. tournament was today at the First On Stage offices in Tokyo. The "Fire Festival '07" champion came in full winter gear for maximum sweat, holding a lone apple.

Tanaka was inadvertently subjected to ZERO1-MAX Ring Announcer Oki Okita eating some delicious curry and rice for lunch right next to him while he waited to be weighed.

To Tanaka's credit he didn't take one bite out of his apple until after he was weighed in.

And the result is....94.8 kg (qualified). Tanaka had no additional comments since he was completely exhausted from losing 6kg in three days.

Nagata's 15th Anniversary in Chiba!

September 9th, 2007

New Japan Pro Wrestling's Yuji Nagata had appeared at the ZERO1-MAX show back in July in Chiba to offer Shinjiro Otnani a part in his 15th Anniversary event on Sepetember 9th in the same building. Well, Nigata's 15th Anniversary went of well with over 2,500 fans coming to the Togane Arena to celebrate Nagata's career.

Originally scheduled as Nagata, Otani and Kazunari Murakami, due to Murakami's injury in the "Fire Festival" he had to be replaced with New Japan's own Manabu Nakanishi. Facing them in the main event 6-man was the "Great Bash Heels" stable of Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe and WEW Heavyweight champion Toru Yano.

The result was a victory for Nagata's team in just over seventeen minutes when Nagata himself pinned the WEW champ Yano with a back suplex hold. Afterwards Nagata said he was very happy with his Anniversary show and said he would like to work more with ZERO1-MAX again in the future.

Tanaka Returns from Hokkaido FAT!

September 7th, 2007

When he left for the island of Hokkaido for the ZERO1-MAX "Brand-New Sensation" tour Masato Tanaka weighed in at a svelte 98kg. Many Yubari melons later, Tanaka returned from the island tour at 101kg!

If you remember, AWA inspector Steve Izumi said Tanaka would be able to take a spot in the upcoming Tenka-Ichi jr champion tournament if he made jr. class weight at 95kg. The official weigh-in was set for September 10th.

Tanaka immediately went to the sauna suit and not eating. He said he's going to keep his eating just to his nutritional needs and no unnecessary calories. Tanaka said with a careful diet and sweating down he thinks he will still be able to make weight and enter the jr. tournament.

Tanaka Aims for the Tenka-Ichi Jr. Throne!

September 5th, 2007

"Fire Festival '07" winner and the "True Man of Summer," Masato Tanaka, announced his intention of entering into the Tenka-Ichi Jr. Tournament. At the "More Than Higher" show in Korakuen Hall on 8/24, following his win over Otanii Tanaka swore he would capture "every title" in ZERO1-MAX by the next "Fire Festival." Apparently he wasn't joking as the former ECW Heavyweight champion now wants to challenge for the top Jr. spot in ZERO1-MAX as well. Tanaka made the following statement:

"There are two slots remaining in the tournament, please give me one of them! If it is a matter of weight class, I will drop weight! This is not a joke, I am completely serious!"

ZERO1-MAX again went to visiting AWA inspecter Steve Izumi and asked him about the possibility of a Heavyweight taking part in the tournament. After returning from shoulder surgery Tanaka came back a good 20kg lighter than he was previously.

Mr. Izumi agreed that if Tanaka can make weight he should be allowed to take part in the tournament. He set the weigh-in for September 10. Tenka-Ichi Jr. weight limit is 95kg, and currently Tanaka is at 98.1kg.