Otani Says It's All Out War On New Japan!
February 18th, 2008
There was a press conference today regarding the ZERO1-MAX vs. New Japan Pro Wrestling confrontation on March 2nd in Korakuen Hall. On hand was Osamu Namiguchi, who will be facing New Japan's Yujiro in a singles match at the event. Nami commented on the bout:
"My impression of Yujiro? He's got a somewhat large frame. To compare him to a ZERO1-MAX wrestler I would say he's like Yoshihito Sasaki. It's a great mistake for him to think he can beat Osamu Namiguchi. I'll teach him.."
President Otani was standing nearby watching the interview from nearby suddenly walked up to Nami and slapped him violently across the face! Otani scolded Namiguchi telling him that at the "vanguard" of the show he must win. Namiguchi threw down his chair and stormed off. Otani told the press that he know he needs to calm down and focus on the real enemy - New Japan Pro Wrestling.
As a former wrestler for New Japan with many friends remaining in the company, Otani knows full well their skill and the fearfulness they instill in outside wrestlers. "Hopefully that will light a fire in Namiguchi. The younger generation has high expectations and I think Nami can one day be a hero.
Kohei Sato was also suppose to be present but he no-showed the press conference once again. He did send a message saying:
Otani is also still furious over Nakanishi's behavior following his match on the final show of "Solidarity." Nakanishi once more got on the microphone, and along with tag team partner Mitsuhide Hirasawa and accompanied by Koji Kanemoto and Ryusuke Taguchi, berated ZERO1-MAX and their fans in Korakuen Hall. Otani wants all of ZERO1-MAX's fighters taking part in matches versus New Japan fighters to be victorious on March 2nd. "The enemy is identified: the black ships of New Japan..."
Yumeji Comments on 2/17 Match - "I Live!"
February 18th, 2008
After suffering a crushing defeat on 2/17, Fugo Fugo Yumeji posted on the company blog today. After weeks of soul searching leading up to his tag team match alongside Takao Omori versus New Japan's Manabu Nakanishi and Mitsuhide Hirasawa, Yumeji was prompltly pinned by Nakanishi in 1:31.
"But I lost in the twinkling of an eye... Surely my head butt wobbled Nakanishi! But that was it. Utter defeat. Afterwards when I regained conciousness in the dressing room I was a little disappointed. But I think I did as best I could in such hard situation. Nakanishi is very strong!"
"The single match of Omori and Nakanishi was announced after our match. The fight between ZERO1-MAX and New Japan Pro wrestling isn't over. I continue to fight as a member of the AXE ARMY and ZERO1-MAX. A final "thank you" to all who wrote kind words to me."
Omori and Nakanishi will have their singles match on March 2nd in Korakuen Hall for the 7th Anniversary of ZERO-ONE.
ZERO1-MAX vs. New Japan Intensifies! March 2nd!
February 16th, 2008
Following the show tonight, FIRST ON STAGE Representative and former ZERO1-MAX President Yoshiyuki Nakamura entered the ring to speak to the fans. After thanking those in attendance for coming, Mr. Nakamura said he wanted to announce the Fight Card for the March 2nd "7th Anniversary of ZERO-ONE" event at Korakuen from his own mouth.
The card will be mostly ZERO1-MAX versus New Japan, with the main event a "Destructive King Shinya Hashimoto Memorial" match between Kohei Sato and current IWGP Heavyweight champion Shinsuke Nakamura. This was a match originally scheduled for 2006 at the Tokyo Dome but was pre-empted when Brock Lesnar fought Nakamura instead. The crowd respond positively to this announcement, as well as to the revelation of a singles match between Takao Omori and Manabu Nakanishi.
Also on the card will be the requested Big Japan Pro Wrestling tag team titles match between Yoshihito and Sekmimoto versus Mashimo Kengo and Madoka. The remainder of the card is as follows:
| ZERO1-MAX "Truth Century Creation" 7th Anniversary of ZERO-ONE Tokyo, Japan - March 2nd, 2008 Korakuen Hall |
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FIGHT CARD |
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| Destructive King Shinya Hashimoto Memorial Match | ||
| Kohei Sato (ZERO1-MAX) |
vs. | Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW) |
|
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| ZERO1-MAX vs. New Japan | ||
| Takao Omori (ZERO1-MAX) |
vs. | Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW) |
|
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| ZERO1-MAX vs. New Japan | ||
| Masato Tanaka (ZERO1-MAX) Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1-MAX) |
vs. | Koji Kanamoto (NJPW) Ryusuke Taguchi (NJPW) |
|
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| BJW Tag Team Championship | ||
| Yoshihito Sasaki © (ZERO1-MAX) Daisuke Sekimoto © (BJW) |
vs. | Kengo Mashimo (K-Dojo) Madoka (K-Dojo) |
|
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| ZERO1-MAX vs. New Japan | ||
| Ryouji Sai (ZERO1-MAX) Shota Takanishi (ZERO1-MAX) |
vs. | Mitsuhide Hirasawa (NJPW) Tetsuya Naito (NJPW) |
|
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| ZERO1-MAX vs. New Japan | ||
| Osamu Namiguchi (ZERO1-MAX) |
vs. | Yujiro (NJPW) |
|
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| Also: Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Minoru Fujita... | ||
New Japan Overwhelming Victory! War Escalation!
February 17th, 2008
The war with New Japan Pro Wrestling has become increasingly heated as we head towards the 7th Anniversary show of ZERO-ONE. Today at the final show of the "Solidarity" tour at Korakuen Hall the main event was the "once in a lifetime" chance for ZERO1-MAX wrestler Fugo Fugo Yumeji. Teamed with AXE ARMY Captain Takao Omori, the two were scheduled to face New Japan's Manabu Nakanishi and Mitsuhide Hirasawa in the semi-main event.
Leading up to the match there was much support for Fugo Fugo Yumeji from fans and friends alike. Ever since the former Omori & Nakanishi champion tag team, WILD CHILD, fell apart at the ZERO1-MAX 1/1 show at Korakuen. And while Omori spent his time leading to the match preparing to exact revenge on Nakanishi, Yumeji spent every day in introspection about his life in pro wrestling. He entered the ring accompanied by several seconds including karate fighter Kazuhiko Ogasawara and WMF's Ricky Fuji.
The New Japan fighters were already present as Omori made his way to ringside. Nakanishi and Hirasawa decided not to wait and attacked Yumeji in the corner as the bell rung! Omori quickly ran to the ring as Yumeji struck with a desperation head butt on Nakanishi. Despite Nakanishi showing the effects of the head butt, he scored a big lariat on Yumeji and scored the three count. The Fugo Fugo Yumeji "one in a lifetime" challenge ends in 1:31.
KAMIKAZE, Yumeji's longtime friend and acquaintance came out to confront Nakanishi on the microphone. Nakanishi challenged KAMIKAZE to take the place of Yumeji and continue the battle, saying he did not feel satisfied that business was finished. KAMIKAZE tore off his shirt and attacked as the bell rang for the re-start. This match was more competitive, but finished with the same results as Nakanishi submitted KAMIKAZE with the Argentine Backbreaker for the victory.
While the New Japan vs. ZERO1-MAX war was the focus of the show, the main event saw the continuation of the clash between Yoshihito Sasaki and Kengo Mashimo that began at the Puroresu Summit. Yoshihito had promised Mashimo a NWA UN Heavyweight title match on March 2, but lost the title to SANDY BEACH at the last Nagoya show. Ryouji on the other hand lost to Kohei Sato at the Osaka "Solidarity" show in a Shingeki Rules match and have been opponents in tag matches on almost every show since.
The battle between the young fiery fighters raged for almost 16 minutes going back-and-forth. Kohei, Ryouji and Mashimo all came with the hard kicks and knees, as Yoshihito levelled people with lariats. It was on a lariat attempt the Mashimo blocked him with a kick, as Yoshihito grabbed his arm Mashimo hit a hard enzuigiri that felled the former UN Heavyweight champion. Then Mashimo finished Yoshihito with his signature vertical brainbuster for the victory.
Following the match, Mashimo got on the microphone and confronted Yoshihito about his promise at a title match. He said just because Yoshihito dropped the UN Heavyweight title don't think he's off the hook. He challenged Yoshihito to another title he holds, the Big Japan Pro Wrestling Tag Team title with Daisuke Sekimoto. Mashimo said he will be at the 3/2 show with his regular K-DOJO partner Madoka to challenge for those tag titles.
Also on the card, ZERO1-MAX President reformed Team EMBLEM with his SWORD ARMY Captain Masato Tanaka against the noted "Sworn Brothers" tag team of Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara.
And while the "Brothers" tried several attempts at trickery for victory, EMBLEM found it's old-school teamwork and was able to defeat the two tricksters that have tormented the Great Sasuke these past weeks.
The finish of the match saw Otani score a backdrop suplex on Sugawara, Tanaka then hit the lariat and his powerful "Sliding D" sliding elbow for the pinfall and the victory.
At the time of SANDY BEACH's first visit to Japan back in December of last year, Hidaka lost to him in a tag match on 12/11 to a moonsault press. Then SANDY gained the NWA UN Heavyweight title by defeating Yoshihito Sasaki on February 11th. Now Hidaka faced off against SANDY in a non-title singles match.
Hidaka fought hard, aiming numerous kicks at SANDY and working on his leg for a submission hold. It was SANDY who saw victory however as in an almost 20 minutes match he finally finished Hidaka with the "Wipe Out."
The 2nd match of the show was the MECHA Mummy Try-Out Match "Mechanism vs. Robot" match. MECHA Mummy would be facing off against the imported Shock Wave the Robot in a singles match. The two mechanisms collided as MECHA Mummy rained down punches on Shock Wave and attacked him in the corner with the drill. At one point Shock Wave escaped the ring and went under the ring for some electrical coils that he used to shock MECHA Mummy!
MECHA Mummy fought back with the drill and the Rocket Punch but couldn't damage the robot. Finally another MECHA Mummy, this one with an afro entered the Hall and distracted Shock Wave. As Shock Wave focused on this new threat, the other MECHA Mummy poured water on his head causing a short circuit! MECHA Mummy was able to then get the 3 count for the win. Afterwards MECHA Mummy said that he won the match now it's up to President Otani if he joins.
Also on the show there was a mixed 6-person tag match of Kamikaze, Osamu Namiguchi and Saki Maemura versus Shota Takanishi, Sawa Munenori and Saki Maemura. The crowd booed Namiguchi he knocking down Saki with a hard dropckick. Eventually Kamikaze was able to isolate Takanishi inside the ring and win the match for his team with the moonsault press. And in the opening match, the "3rd Wall of Super Dragon," student Naoki Ueda faced Tatsuhito Takaiwa and was submitted in under 1 minutes.
At the end of the show, the SWORD ARMY was presented with a trophy and victory money for their 10-7 victory in the "Solidarity" tour. They will be sponsoring "SWORD-1" on February 26th at Shin-kiba's 1st Ring.
MECHA Mummy Comes to FOS Office!?
February 16th, 2008
As earlier reported, MECHA Mummy has recently entered the freelance ranks after the end of his contract with DDT and came to ZERO1-MAX looking for a job. He was scheduled in a match versus LA Dojo's Shock Wave the Robot for his try-out. Surprisingly, MECHA Mummy appeared at the First On Stage office yesterday as ZERO1-MAX President was there catching up on some office work. Also present was Shock Wave, who was assisting Otani with the tranfer of company documents into digital form.With lighting speed, Shock Wave zipped through each volume of records.
When Otani asked MECHA Mummy why he was there, a message was produced from his chest unit with the words" I am wanting to help with ZERO1-MAX work." Seeing Shock Wave working at the nearby computer, MECHA Mummy sat down at another computer and began to also transcribe the company documents. It was very slow going for him, as he pecked at the keyboard with two fingers as Shock Wave typed at super speed.
MECHA Mummy began to become frustrated as Shock Wave kept speeding along. He had some difficulty with the mouse, and kept looking at Shock Wave. Finally MECHA Mummy snapped and fired a rocket punch at Shock Wave who was unfazed. Otani was very impressed by Shock Wave's ability to adapt to the situation.
Yumeji Called to the Plate!
Hesitation and Support Follows!
February 14th, 2008
ZERO1-MAX fans are very familiar with Fugo Fugo Yumeji (aka Tadahiro Fujisaki). While not called to action in the ring very much of late, Yumeji-san is an integral part of Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX's operations: Organizer, artist, office worker, wrestler are all hats Yumeji wears for the company. And while his ZERO1-MAX matches don't often make air, Yumeji also wrestles for many of the smaller Japanese pro wrestling companies that exist.
When SWORD and AXE Captains Masato Tanaka and Takao Omori chose their teams back on December 24th, Yumeji was picked for the AXE ARMY though he was chosen last. At the time Yumeji felt a little wounded by being picked last. Now he has been called to action by Captain Omori to team with him in his battle with Manabu Nakanishi and ZERO1-MAX's feud with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Yumeji and Omori will tag together on the 2/17 to take on Nakanishi and his chosen partner - Mitsuhide Hirasawa.
Being called into such a position, Yumeji began to reflect on his career and how this is a big match for him to jump back into the ring with. Former ZERO1-MAX President Yoshiyuki Nakamura commented on the company blog that he thinks Yumeji might have some "moss growing" for lack of activity. This caused Fugo Fugo to begin to question his readiness for the match on his own blog at livedoor.jp/fugofugoyumeji.
There he reminisced about his first appearance in ZERO-ONE with a turtle shell on his back for 01USA. He talked about his 9 year career in Pro Wrestling and how pure his heart was when he first entered pro wrestling.
Then one night Yumeji was doing design work very late into the evening and decided he would head over to the FIRST ON STAGE office, where many workers and wrestlers put in long and late hours, so he could meet with Mr. Nakamura in the morning to ask him some questions. While sitting in a funk talking to FOS office worker Hiroki Asai, younger wrestler Osamu Namiguchi approached Yumeji and challenged him for even the consideration of losing a match BEFORE it happens. Namiguchi had heard Yumeji's negative comments earlier when Nami delivered a schedule to Asai-san. The two began to fight and the whole episode was caught on the office security system (edited).
Witnessing these event transpiring on the ZERO1-MAX blog and Yumeji's own blog, support began to pour in for the veteran grappler. The first was a physical visit to the FOS Tokyo's office by Fighting Team Oita's (FTO) Skull Ripper A-ji.
Yumeji sat quietly and listened, until A-ji presented him a gift from the members of FTO - an encouragement card from all the FTO wrestlers with personal messages of support for Yumeji. Yumeji was quite touched by this show of support and became a little emotional.
More encouragement then began to come in, next from Karate fighter Kazuhiko Ogasawara who told him to look into his heart as he knows Yumeji is strong. Following that was a message from Naoshi Sano of International Professional Wrestling, who told Yumeji to do his best and put on a good match while also thanking him for helping him enter the "Lion King Cup" last year. Also messages from his fans began to come in, and Yumeji said he received many e-mails and text messages of support. "I feel much more secure!! Thank you," Yumeji reported on is blog. "Although it was myself I battled with, I forgot that I have so many friends."
More messages followed from Numazu Pro Wrestling MAX Miyazawa, karate fighter Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, Hokuto Pro Wrestling's Crain Nakajou, CMA Pro Wrestling Ken Katatani, Yuuna Juku Pro Wrestling's Hiroshi Watanabe, WMF's Ricky Fuji and many more from fans.
BattlARTS wrestler Munenori Sawa even invited Yumeji to DDT's DROPKICK bar for a party in his honor. "Messages are gathered from every place in the country, various organizations, wrestlers, it is very kind."
Mr. Nakamura also posted on the blog that the requests from other wrestlers to appear as Yumeji's second on 2/17 has been very high. He said at this rate Yumeji could be accompanied by many wrestlers. Only two days remain until Yumeji teams with AXE ARMY Captain Omori versus New Japan Pro Wrestling in Korakuen Hall.
