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Otani Has Strong G1 Performance! Falls Just Short!

August 18th, 2008

ZERO1 President Shinjiro Otani had a very strong showing in New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 CLIMAX 2008 "HEROES OF SUPREMACY" tournament. Coming in as a virtual unknown as this was his first appearance in the tournament, Otani won solid victories over Manabu Nakanishi, Wataru Inoue and "Fire Festival '08" runner-up Togi Makabe.

After starting fast with two back-to-back wins over Nakanishi and Inoue, Otani was stopped cold by monster gaijin wrestler Giant Bernard in Korakuen Hall after putting up a spirited fight. He then rebounded by facing and defeating Togi Makabe in Osaka, an opponent he had fallen to during the "Fire Festival '08." After this redeeming victory, Otani then battled All Japan Pro Wrestling's Satoshi Kojima to a 30 minute draw in Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan. Finally on the cusp of BLOCK A domination, Otani fell to former IWGP Heavyweight champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, leaving him in 2nd place tied with Kojima. The man Otani defeated on August 14th, Togi Makabe, then sealed BLOCK A and went on to the finals to eventually lose to Hirooki Goto.

Otani was interviewed about his performance:

Otani's G1 results were as followed. He finished with 7 points in BLOCK A:

Otani Keeps Moving Through G1 CLIMAX Tournament! 2 - 0!

August 11th, 2008

ZERO1 President Shinjiro Otani is taking part in New Japan Pro Wrestling's big summer Tournament - the G1 CLIMAX 2008 "HEROES OF SUPREMACY." This is Otani's first G1 participation since leaving NJPW, joining ZERO1 and moving from junior heavyweight class to Heavyweight.

Although Otani failed to win the "Fire Festival '08" this year, he has said entering New Japan as a representative of ZERO1 has given him new energy.

Already as of this writing Otani has come out victorious over two of his New Japan opponents. The first was a victory over one of the most powerful forces involved in the ZERO1 vs. NJPW feud, the Yajin, Manabu Nakanishi. Otani faced Nakanishi at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium and won a victory in 12:21 with the Spiral Bomb.

The second victim was another former Junior Heavyweight turned Heavyweight - Wataru Inoue. Otani defeated him today at the Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium in under 10 minutes with the Spiral Bomb! Things will not get any easier for Otani as still opposing him are difficult opponents in former IWGP Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, "Fire Festival '08" Finalist Togi Makabe, the massive Giant Bernard, and "Fire Festival '03" winner All Japan Pro Wrestling's Satoshi Kojima.

Otani's remaining schedule is as follows:

FIRE FESTIVAL THREEPEAT! Tanaka Brings it Home Again!

August 3rd, 2008

The Fire Festival '08 has come to a close, with two-time previous champion Masato Tanaka winning it for a third time in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall. Tanaka's position was in question, while as New Japan Pro Wrestling's Togi Makabe won Block A in a solid fashion, Block B went in to the final show tied at 5 between Tanaka, Omori and Nakanishi. To determine the winner of Block B, those three had a 3-way match early in the show to determine who would move on to face Makabe.

And interesting dynamic unfolded in this match, as the two ZERO1 fighters often teamed with each other to take on New Japan's Nakanishi. Omori and Nakanishi also have history however, being former NWA Intercontinental Tag Team champions and former IWGP Tag Team champions. It was Omori who attacked Tanaka first, right at the bell, and all three wrestlers battled to the outside. When they finally returned to the ring, there were several double team miscommunication as each wrestler tried to wear down his opponent. And when Tanaka and Omori went for a double suplex on Nakanishi, the NJPW "Yajin" reversed it delivering a double suplex of his own on the SWORD and AXE ARMY captains.

Omori almost scored the victory with an Axe Bomber on Nakanishi that Tanaka was able to break up. Omori was then hit hard from behind with the Sliding D, but as Tanaka went for the pinfall Nakanishi lifted him by his waist to deliver a hard German Suplex. Nakanishi and Omori then traded stiff clotheslines before Nakanishi lifted Omori far a powerbomb. Once again as he was going for the pinfall, Tanaka interrupted with another Sliding D. As Nakanishi was down, Tanaka his another Sliding D on the weakened Omori and scored the pinfall to advance to the finals of the tournament.

This led to the main event, where Tanaka faced off against Togi Makabe. Makabe has been on a tear through the whole tournament, winning victories over Otani, Mochizuki and KAMIKAZE on the way. As the match started the fans took their sides, with Tanaka originally receiving large cheers and Makabe a lot of booing. New Japan fans made their presence felt as they chanted Makabe's name only to be drowned out by the ZERO1 faithfuls' chants of "Masato! Masato! Masato!"

The match saw lots of interference from Makabe's GBH stable mate, Tomoaki Honma, who attacked Tanaka as every chance he could behind the referees back. Tanaka and Makabe battled through the crowd, up and down the south seats of Korakuen Hall. It wasn't long before blood poured from the former Fire Festival champions head. Makabe returned to the ring to watch Tanaka slowly crawl back in, barely making it by the count of 20! Makabe then was showered in boos as he mocked the bloodied Tanaka in the middle of the ring. Tanaka soon had his second wind, attacking both Makabe and Honma to the cheers of the crowd! Tanaka then unleashed on Makabe with a piece of a broken table, bloodying the GBH Captain as well. Makabe in desperation, hit a low blow and then a German suplex which barely phased Tanaka! Makabe then followed that with his patented chain lariat and then attempted his King Kong kneedrop only for Tanaka to move away!

The two then clashed several times, exchanging hard lariats until Tanaka switched to the elbow. Makabe, obviously dazed, provoked Tanaka asking him for more! Tanaka gave him what he wanted, dropping him with an elbow and then hitting the Sliding D but only for a 1 count! Tanaka then added the rapid-fire Sliding D for good measure and once more was the victor of the ZERO1 "Fire Festival!" This is Tanaka's third victory in-a-row for ZERO1's prestigious tournament.

Aside from the Fire Festival '08 Tournament finals, also on the card this night was the 2nd title defense of the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team champions, Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara, versus the newly formed Aibou team of Ikuto Hidaka and BattlArts' Munenori Sawa. Fujita and Sugawara, also the current holders of the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles have avoided and serious competition in their tag title bouts.

This match started out with the former long-time tag partners, Hidaka and Fujita in the ring. After a short period of feeling each other out, Hidaka gained the advantage and annoyed Fujita. Fujita then tagged to Sugawara as he and Sawa collided but only for a few exchanges as soon Fujita tagged back in. Both fighters then exchange hard head-butts that reverberated throughout Korakuen Hall as the fans their chanted loudly for Sawa! Sawa threw Fujita into the corner as Hidaka re-entered, showering rapid fire kicks onto Fujita as the crowd cheered along!

Hidaka at one point attempted to grasp the "Shawn Capture" on Fujita, but Fujita was far to familiar with the current Jr. Heavyweight champion and quickly transformed it into his BONEYARD hold. The end finally came when Sugawara tried for his Shiisanputa finisher on Sawa but Sawa was able to cut back and reverse it into the Octopus Hold perfected by Sawa's BattlArts sensei Yuki Ishikawa and Sugawara tapped out! Korakuen erupted as fan favorite Sawa embraced Hidaka in the center of the ring! This is the first title belt held by the up-and-coming Jr. class fighter. Sawa said afterwards that he never thought about winning titles in Pro Wrestling as he "just wants to fight." But with the new title around his waste he told the media and his partner that now he plans to be the "Craziest champion to hold this belt."

The 4th match of the show was a tag match pitting former "Fire Festival '08" contenders against each other. Masaaki Mochizuki had been a stubborn guest to ZERO1, getting on his high-horse numerous time in his Jr. Heavyweight title feud with Ikuto Hidaka. Through the whole time he announced he had one wish - to face Shinjiro Otani in a singles match, their first in thirteen years. He got his wish on July 31st in Osaka when in a Block A match he lost to Otani in 15½ minutes to the Spiral Bomb. Now Mochizuki teamed with Otani versus the heavyweight team of Kohei Sato and Daisuke Sekimoto.

Otani and Mochizuki started off on a friendly note, as after Otani hit his first Face Wash in the corner, Mochizuki then said he wanted to do a Face Wash! Otani stood perplexed as Mochizuki tried his best, and then the two delivered a simultaneous face wash on Sekimoto! Sekimoto managed to shoulder block Otani and tag in Kohei at that moment. Otani scrambled through the large heavyweight's legs and quickly tagged Mochizuki. Mochizuki exchanged kicks with Kohei, but his Jr. class size barely faced the big man. Finally getting him into a corner, Mochizuki again called on Otani for a Face Wash on Kohei, but as Otani geared up to deliver, Mochizuki teased his own only to fly with a tope outside the ring onto a stunned Sekimoto as Otani delivered!

Mochizuki then tried for a cross arm breaker on Sekimoto, who easily lifted him with one arm as Kohei grabbed Mochizuki with a hard German Suplex! Otani then dodged a hard lariat by Sekimoto which instead struck Kohei, giving Otani the opening to grab the Spiral Bomb and deliver the 1-2-3 on the ZERO1 wrestler! Otani, in his usually style, ran up the ropes to celebrate only to slip and fall! Mochizuki then tried the same in unison but with the same result, much to the crowds' delight!

The 3rd Match of the card saw a singles bout between two more wrestlers who failed to make the finals, Ryoji Sai and KAMIKAZE. Both wrestlers had somewhat disappointing results in the tournament, only scoring 2 points throughout. And though KAMIKAZE was fraught with potential going in, and Ryouji had qualified for the finals the last two years, neither had much luck this time. This match lasted 11 minutes with Ryouji finally winning with the Nachi's Waterfall.

The opening match saw Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeat young trainee Shito Ueda with a crab hold. Ueda showed some great fire in this bout, going after his teacher without fear with chops and strikes. The crowd also was very responsive to his struggle.

Fire Festival '08 Final Standings!

August 2nd, 2008

Injury Default - Nami!

July 27th, 2008

AXE ARMY member and ZERO1 Jr. class fighter Osamu Namiguchi has a pretty serious jaw injury with massive swelling. It has not yet been determined if his jaw is broken yet but to protect against any further injury he will be kept out of action until he has healed.

Fire Festival '08 Begins Today in Korakuen!

July 27th, 2008

The ZERO1 "Fire Festival '08" begins today in Korakuen Hall. Matches today are: Shinjiro Otani vs. Togi Makabe, Kohei Sato vs. KAMIKAZE, Masato Tanaka vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Ryoji Sai vs. Daisuke Sekimoto. Who will start strong and struggle their way to the top to be crowned the ZERO1 "Fire Festival '08" champion! Below is the full wrestler list and schedule:

BLOCK A

Shinjiro Otani

(ZERO1 - 8th Fire Festival. Tournament champion in '01, '02 & '05.)

Kohei Sato

(ZERO1 - 8th Fire Festival. Fire Festival '04 Winner)

KAMIKAZE

(ZERO1 - 1st Fire Festival)

Togi Makabe

(New Japan Pro Wrestling - 1st Fire Festival)

Masaaki Mochizuki

(DRAGON GATE - 1st Fire Festival)

BLOCK B

Masato Tanaka

(ZERO1 - 8th Fire Festival. Back-to-back victories in '06 & '07. Captain of the SWORD ARMY)

Takao Omori

(ZERO1 - 5th Fire Festival. Captain of the AXE ARMY. Victory in Assessment match)

Ryoji Sai

(ZERO1 - 4th Fire Festival. Champion runner-up for Fire Festival '06 & '07)

Daisuke Sekimoto

(Big Japan Pro Wrestling - 4th Fire Festival)

Manabu Nakanishi

(New Japan Pro Wrestling - 1st Fire Festival)

KAMIKAZE Returns to a Familiar Place for Fire Festival '08 Preparation!

July 17th, 2008

After being a member of the ZERO1 roster for 7 years, KAMIKAZE has finally received a shot in the annual "Fire Festival" tournament. Despite pursing this opportunity all that time, KAMIKAZE has never participated in the prestigious tournament until now and declared it his most "earnest wish" to not only enter but to win.

To accomplish this end, KAMIKAZE returned to his home city of Ashigawa in Tochigi Prefecture Japan to train in the stifling heat and prepare himself for the tournament. Ashigawa is known as a place that has put out a great number of professional wrestlers, and KAMIKAZE himself was involved in amateur wrestling while in High School. It was back then that he would carry a heavy sandbag on his shoulder and run the 229 stairs of Ashikaga's Orihime Shrine ten times up-and-down to strengthen his body. And although he did not perform this feat now in his 37th year, now that he has finally gained entry into the Fire Festival he returned to the Shrine to once more visit the grounds of the Shrine and touch the stairs.

KAMIKAZE remembers those times long ago when he worked so hard at strength training, and said ever since graduating he had made a vow to return to Orihime-jinja several times but never did so. Moreover, while finally returning to the shrine KAMIKAZE admitted he has some mixed feelings about finally entering the "Fire Festival" as he felt disappointment for it having taken so long for him to win a spot in the tournament. KAMIKAZE commented:

As a member of A Block in the tournament KAMIKAZE's scheduled opponents are Shinjiro Otani, Kohei Sato, Togi Makabe and Masaaki Mochizuki. He will open the tournament on 7/27 versus Kohei Sato, and will also participate in the only non-ZERO1 presented match taking pace on 8/2 at the DRAGON GATE produced "BUYUDEN 8" show in Shin-kiba.

Fujita & Sugawara - Gikyoudai Title Defense Press Conference!

July 12th, 2008

The double title tag team champion team of Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara known as "Gikyoudai" ("Sworn Brothers"), have double defense matches for both the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles on July 13 in Tokyo Differ Arika and the NWA International Lightweight Tag titles on July 20 at the Aomori Big Sight. First they were questioned about the NWA Intercontinental Tag title match versus former title holders Shinjiro Otani and Yuki Ishikawa.

"Otani and Ishikawa are a tag team that has no sense of fun. They came to try to get the titles back from us. How very uninteresting," Minoru Fujita commented. "I fought Ishikawa already back on May 17th at the ZERO1 Koshigaya show. He approached me grinning, and then headbutted me! Bad feelings have already passed over and it's changed into a deep-seated grudge. In Ariake, although we face the great wrestlers in Otani and Ishikawa, we'll make them understand who is great."

Sugawara commented that he'd never faced Ishikawa before but would be prepared. The two were then asked about their NWA International Lightweight tag defense on July 20 in Aomori. There they will be facing the newly formed tag team of Ikuto Hidaka and Munenori Sawa.

"Sawa's a total pervert," observed Sugawara. "But capturing the titles is the point of the match."

"That whole company he comes from are perverts. Including their President. He's not normal," Fujita added.

The two were then asked about how they haven't defended their titles often, and when they do they often chose opponents they feel they can defend easily against. An example was them chosing ZERO1 trainees Shito Ueda and Yuzuru Saito back on June 21st as opponents.

"That was a change of corporate policy," Fujita responded. "No, the company decided on that. In fact I didn't want to do it. However they decided to let us chose our opponents. Since it's in our hands now, I'd like to announce another privilege of the champion....if the title is defended, there's a lucky defense bonus that can be won. If you win enough you'll be able to buy this."

Here they revealed a "very expensive" oxygen capsule. "It's new but it stinks a little of vinyl. I got the idea from David Beckham who uses a hyperbaric oxygen capsule," Fujita said as he got inside. "If I or Taku use this on the day of the match, you'll know because our hair will look like Beckham's."

Fujita then announced that they also planned an exorcism in preparing for their match against Otani and Ishikawa. Fujita then took out candles and tape that he brought with him and taped the candles around his head. He then began to pray over a photo of their challengers, Otani and Ishikawa. Sugawara watched for a second and then he too began to pray.