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Minoru Scheduled for Osaka & Korakuen! Hidaka, Mochizuki & Minoru Team for 2/27!

February 11th, 2009

Minoru Tanaka (Minoru) left his New Japan Pro Wrestling contract last month to become a freelance wrestler. ZERO1 now announces that Minoru will take part in both the 2/14 Osaka and 2/27 Korakuen events in the current "ZERO1 Wrestler's Belief '09" tour. In his first appearance in Osaka, he will face the current NWA International Lightweight tag team champions the "Aibou" team of Ikuto Hidaka and Munenori Sawa in a non-title tag match. He will be a part of "Team Minoru" for that match, as his partner will be Minoru Fujita. When those two last faced each other on New Year's Day at the "Genesis 2009" show the crowd would chant "Minoru!" and both wrestlers would respond, both taking credit for the crowds emotion.

Then on 2/27 in Korakuen it will be a 6-man "Dream Team" tag of Minoru, Hidaka and DRAGON GATE's Masaaki Mochizuki who was ZERO1 International Jr. Heavyweight Champion for the first half of 2008. Across from them will be the "Gikyoudai" team of Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara alongside former World Heavyweight Champion and 2008 "Fire Festival" victor Masato Tanaka. This should be a good Junior Class battle added to a card already scheduled to see ZERO1 President Shinjiro Otani challenge New Japan's Yuji Nagata from the World Heavyweight title. The 6-man Jr. match will also be the first time Minoru and Masato Tanaka have ever been in the same ring together.

KAMIKAZE Reigns in Ashikaga! Nami & Hikaru Defend WDB Titles!

February 9th, 2009

ZERO1 held their event in Ashikaga yesterday in front of a raucous hometown crowd ready to cheer on the local hero, KAMIKAZE and his attempt to reclaim the "Ashikaga Wrestling Aniki (AWA)" championship title from Minoru Fujita. This title belt is a special local title that KAMIKAZE held for several months until losing it to Fujita. For their return to Ashikaga for the "ZERO1 Wrestler's Belief '09" tour KAMIKAZE challenged Fujita to a rematch following the 1/29 show in Shin-kiba to which Fujita accepted.

He added a stipulation however, declaring that he'd promised his "Gikyoudai" Takuya Sugawara a title challenge so KAMIKAZE would have to first defeat Sugawara in a #1 Contenders bout before facing Fujita. KAMIKAZE was somewhat perplexed by this unreasonable demand, but reluctantly accepted knowing his home crowd wanted to see him win the title again.

KAMIKAZE was able to win the Contenders match versus Sugawara on the second match of the show, though his head was bloodied in the process. Even with the crowd 100% behind him he had to fight back hard to gain the victory but finally won with his "Watarasebashi" maneuver, a move named after the local Watarase Bridge. Then in the main event he entered with his head bandaged and seconded by The Great Sasuke who, as reported earlier, teamed with Saki Maemura on this show. Many green streamer flew through the air during his introduction, and the crowd chanted "KAMIKAZE! KAMIKAZE!" enthusiastically following the Mayor of Ashikaga reading the Title Match declaration. It didn't take long for the Gikyoudai team to resort to it's usual ways, as Suga distracted KAMIKAZE Fujita pulled him outside the ring and attacked him violently with a chair and threw him into the wall!

The match continued and so did the cheating. Sugawara handed Fujita a whip while the referee was distracted and he used it on KAMIKAZE! When Sasuke tried to interfere, he too felt the lash! Sugawara then held KAMIKAZE in the corner as Fujita delivered a kick and a enzuigiri, followed by his "Sayonara" tombstone piledriver! KAMIKAZE, due to the massive crowd support was able to survive and counterattack, though every time he had a chance at victory Sugawara would break up the pinfall. Finally KAMIKAZE decided to take on both Gikyoudai when trying to lock in the Cobra Twist on Fujita.

Sugawara once more tried to interfere, rushing to attack with the black box only for KAMIKAZE to surprisingly unleash with a spray of Green Poison Mist! Sasuke also got involved and kicked the "Sworn Brothers" around the ring until KAMIKAZE scored a vertical drop brainbuster on Fujita only for Fujita to strike a low blow and escape at 2! This was short lived, as Fujita then was hit with a KAMIKAZE Driver and finally a moonsault press to lose the match at just under 15 minutes.

As KAMIKAZE celebrated, Sasuke grabbed the "Green AWA" belt and tore off the RAGE CROW sticker Fujita had affixed to the front. He handed it back to KAMIKAZE, who thanked Sasuke for his assistance. He then thanked the crowd an introduced them all to the young wrestlers who are now coming up the ranks of ZERO1: Shito Ueda, Yuzuru Saito, and the yet-to-debut Yoshikazu Yokoyama. He also announced that ZERO1 will do its customary blood drive in Ashikaga on March 1st, and finally the "3-2-1...ZERO-1!" cheer.

Previously reported following the 2/7 show in Chiba, Saki Maemura asked The Great Sasuke to be her partner in the Wold Dubai Tag Team Title match today versus champions Osamu Namiguchi and Hikaru. Saki had been looking to team with Sasuke last year and challenge for the titles but was unable to because of an injury to Sasuke. The WDB Tag Throne have been defended by the champion 3 times going into this match, with the bonus being that if they defend the titles 10 times in a row they will be awarded a palatial residence by the sponsor of the title, Sheik Burj-al.

Before the match even began, The Great Sasuke was a little concerned. "This will be boy versus boy and girl versus girl," he said. "I never raise my hand to women!" Hikaru thought this was funny considering it's a mixed-tag match and started off by ordering Sasuke in the ring to face her. Tentatively Sasuke entered, and strangely tried to use will power and telekinesis to knock her down! Hikaru laughed at this and drop kicked Sasuke for his troubles! The champion team performed very well here, showing good teamwork and timing.

Despite the beating Sasuke was taking he still refused to fight back against Hikaru so Saki came in a tried to make up for lost time by hitting both Hikaru and Nami with a Plancha. In the end it was all for naught however as Hikaru was able to finally isolate Saki and finish her with the Lanakilla-H to secure the 4th victory of the WDB titles. Both Hikaru and Nami are hoping they will be able to defend the titles the 6 more times needed before her retirement on April 26 in Tokyo.

Also on the show EMBLEM once more teamed together to defeat the team of Ikuto Hidaka and Kohei Sato in 14 minutes when Tanaka pinned Hidaka with the Sliding-D. BattlArts fighter Munenori Sawa battled recently returned Ryoji Sai in a single match. Currently Sai is appearing on the popular Fuji TV series "Ainori" at 11PM every Monday night, and added a bit of the TV shows touch to his defeat of Sawa. As he flew from the top rope to deliver his Nachi Waterfall diving footstomps he shouted "Shinjitsu no Ai" which translates as "True Love." In the opening match, Shito Ueda defeated Yuzuru Saito with a Camel Clutch.

Nami & "Space President" Sasuke Lose! Saki Tries Again!

February 7th, 2009

Nami finally got his shot at the NWA Lightweight tag titles alongside "Space President" The Great Sasuke who has been acting strangely for some time now. While the challengers put up a tough fight, there were some especially violent moments between Sawa and Namiguchi as Nami showed his hunger for victory in the match..Sasuke also unleashed his usual arsenal of the Quebrada, Plancha and Atomic Senton.

The champion "Aibou" team of Hidaka and Sawa showed their usual well structured teamwork in the match, defending from pinfalls and isolating opponents. The end of the match came when Sawa locked the Octopus hold on Nami as Hidaka kept Sasuke occupied with his Shawn Capture leg hold, and Nami had to regrettably submit. Following the match, Hidaka challenged Sasuke to an International Jr. Heavyweight title and Sasuke accepted. Nami was frustrated back stage:

Sasuke: "Nami we're outdone!"

Namiguchi: "I am sorry that I hold you back."

Sasuke: "No...From now I'll do better. We'll team together again, you've been my best partner lately."

Suddenly Saki Maemura appeared backstage at that moment; her partner for the upcoming WDB Tag Team titles in on February 8th Ashikaga had yet to be determined. She told Sasuke she was sorry for his team's loss today, and asked him if he remembered last year when they were suppose to team together for the WDB title but then Sasuke was injured and had to pass on competing?

"Last year? Oh that is right, forgive me I was injured," Sasuke responded as Nami continued to try and talk about their current match. Saki inquired if Sasuke was healed now to which he responded in the affirmative. As Nami continued to yammer in the background Sasuke turned to him, yelling, "you be quiet!"

"There's no future to team with the bald guy. Team with me tomorrow and we'll capture the Dubai titles," Saki said. Sasuke shook Saki's hand saying, "See you, Nami. Saki-chan I'll do my best tomorrow" as the two new teammates walked off. Nami, first losing his match and then his partner, fell to his knees and hung his head. He berated Sasuke and himself for making such a poor choice of partner. He swore he'd find a new partner and continue his quest to win the Lightweight tag team titles.

For now he will team with Hikaru tomorrow to defend his WDB Tag Team titles versus his most recent partner and Saki Maemura in Ashikagi.

Nami Says "Nothing Is Impossible!" in Lightweight Tag Team title challenge!

February 6th, 2009

Back on January 23rd alongside Daisuke Sekimoto, Osamu Namiguchi was on the winning end of a non-title match versus the current NWA International Lightweight tag team champions Ikuto Hidaka and Munenori Sawa. Though it wasn't Namiguchi who scored the pinfall in the match, following the victory he was very fired up and challenged the champions for their titles. Sekimoto said he couldn't be Nami's partner because he's a heavyweight and the Lightweight titles are for Jr. Class.

So Nami announced on television that he needed a partner, and was soon contacted via a cryptic message regarding a UFO from The Great Sasuke to volunteer as his partner. Now tomorrow in Chiba they will get their chance versus Hidaka and Sawa in a title match. Nami comments:

Tanaka Wins NJPW Best Match Award - New Japan Fan Ballot!

February 4th, 2009

ZERO1 wrestler Masato Tanaka was awarded the Best Match of the Year award in New Japan Pro Wrestling via NJPW's mobile device fan balloting. The match that he participated in that won the honors was the October 13th, 2008 World Heavyweight title bout versus Yuji Nagata in Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan. It was in this match, after a hard-hitting 18 minute battle that Nagata finally ended Tanaka's dominant reign as champion and took the title belt. Tanaka was reached for comment:

"I'm glad to recieve the prize from another organization. Though I must admit to receive this for a match that I ultimately lost takes some of the shine off it...There's no doubt the name of Yuji Nagata will appear against me on a fight card in the future, and I will surely repay my 'debt' on that day. It's also a suprise as when I enter the New Japan ring the fans are loud with the booing. Going forward, if the opportunity to enter New Japan Pro Wrestling for a match appears I'll definitely want to go."

Nagata was not so generous in his words towards ZERO1 fans. He said he dislikes the ZERO1 fans and that every time he wrestles in front of them his dislie increases. He also mentioned his upcoming title defense versus Shinjiro Otani on February 27th for the final of the "ZERO1 Wrestler's Belief '09" tour, saying to the New Japan fans, "..let's get Otani and ZERO1 fans to feel mortified!"

Setsubun no Mamemaki! Bean Throwing in Shiba!

February 3rd, 2009

In Japan, "Setsubun" is the day before the beginning of each season of the year. So every year on February 3rd the spring Setsubun (Risshun) is celebrated with a special ritual called "mamemaki" to cleanse away any possible evil of the former year and drive away evil spirits for the year to come.

This ritual involves the throwing of roasted soybeans at a local shrine while chanting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" which roughly translates to "Demons out! Luck in!"

This year the local shrine in Shiba, Minato, Tokyo, where the FIRST ON STAGE and ZERO1 offices are located, held their Setsubun and several ZERO1 wrestlers were invited to toss the beans.

ZERO1 President Shinjiro Otani, Masato Tanaka, Kohei Sato, Hikaru and Saki Maemura were all on-hand at the Zojo-ji temple for the event. ZERO1 has participated in this event previously several times alongside other local celebrities. Once again a good size crowd came to welcome Spring and dispell any bad luck from 2008. ZERO1 wished good fortune on all their fans and all fans of professional wrestling!