There is a lot of things going on in the world of Japanese Professional Wrestling at this time.
For all of you who do not follow my facebook page or twitter I am going to run down all the latest happenings that is looking to close out this month and going forward for a couple promotions you may not normally follow.
First up let’s check out what is going on right now in Japan from Big Japan, Zero1, IGF and close out on some All Japan happenings.
Big Japan announced today that they will be holding a Singles Tournament to decide who will be the next to face the current Death Match Heavyweight Champion Ryuji Ito.
Ikki Tousen ~ DEATHMATCH SURVIVOR ~
【A BLOCK】
Shadow WX シャドウWX
Takashi Sasaki 佐々木貴
Jaki Numazawa 沼澤邪鬼
Isami Kodaka 木高イサミ
Kankuro Hoshino 星野勘九郎
【B BLOCK】
Yuko Miyamoto 宮本裕向
Abdullah Kobayashi アブドーラ小林
Jun Kasai 葛西純
Masashi Takeda 竹田誠志
Drake Younger ドレイク・ヤンガー
Big Japan will also be having a Tag Tournament happening the same time as the singles tournament.
BJW TAG LEAGUE ~ DAINICHI-X 2011～
Day 1: 2/2 (18:30), Day 2: 3/3 (18:30), and Day 3: 4/12 (18:30)
The Tournament will be conducted in a round-robin set-up for each match, with a 20 min time limit (except final).
(1) Abdullah Kobayashi & Yuji Okabayashi
(2) Ryuji Ito & Masashi Otani
(3) “Black Angel” Jaki Numazawa & Shinya Ishikawa
(4) Yoshihito Sasaki & Ryuichi Kawakami
(5) Shadow WX & Atsushi Ohashi
(6) Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazuki Hashimoto
(7) Yuichi Taniguchi & Masked Genbei
(8) Kankuro Hoshino & Takumi Tsukamoto
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Zero1 News: It has been officially announced that Daichi Hashimoto, son of the late, great Shinya Hashimoto will indeed face Masahiro Chono for his debut on March 6, 2011!
This was mentioned a few months ago as the match we could see for his debut, but it is sort of unheard of for a wrestler to come in and go right at a legend. Though this actually points out… how much potential is on Daichi and the strong future that is in store for him.
Announced also to be taking place on Zero1’s 10th Anniversary show on March 6th (Sun) at the Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan is Shinjiro Ohtani facing off against Yoshihiro Takayama.
Ikuto Hidaka gets his wish as his match against Ito Takafumi [Pancrase].
Also added for the big show on 3/6 is the inclusion of Yuji Nagata vs. Masato Tanaka.
KAMIKAZE has been announced as the next challenger for Daisuke Sekimoto’s World Heavyweight Belt come Feb. 17th at the Korakuen Hall.
KAMIKAZE is coming off a great showing at the tag tournament and even won the finals with his partner Kohei Sato.
Also announced for the 2/17 show:
Fujita “Jr” Hayato vs. Masato Tanaka
Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Hikaru Sato
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At the IGF GENOME14 event (2/5), Tatsumi Fujinami’s 40th Anniversary Match opponent, titled DRAGON vs. Sky High, has been announced to be against Mil Mascaras.
As usual IGF delivers on having some of the most interesting choices of matches. With Fujinami (57) and Mascaras (68) it definitely aims to be a technical match up.
Also announced for the show on Feb. 5th.
The Predator vs. Keith Hanson (Luke Gallows/Festus)
Masked Genome Jr. vs. The Hurricane (Shane Helms)
Shinichi Suzukawa vs. …. Kimbo Slice!
Yes you are reading that correctly, Kimbo Slice will be making his professional wrestling debut for Inoki’s Promotion in Japan.
All Japan Pro Wrestling News:
There is going to be a World Tag Team Title Match on 2/6 as Taiyo Kea & Akebono defends against the Voodoo Murders team of KONO & Joe Doering. On the same day TARU & KENSO finally settle their animosity over who is the weaker link in the Voodoo Murders.
On 2/13 their will be a 3 Way Match to determine the next Triple Crown Challenger as it will be Akebono vs. KENSO vs. KONO. It should also be noted that KENSO and KONO will face each other on 2/11 as well.
Also with the full announcement that Joe Doering is returning to All Japan another Gaijin has been announced to be returning as well. Zodiac, real name Aaron Aguilera (33 years old), has been announced to be returning to All Japan on 2/6. He was last seen with the F4 unit with Kojima, KAI & Hiroshi Yamato before they were forced to disband by the Voodoo Murders in early 2010. Since then he has been competing for most notably Lucha Lib…re USA as the masked wrestler Lujo Esquire.
All Japan also mentioned that Zodiac has been training and could be looking to get some revenge on the Voodoo Murders.
Should be interesting to see him return and if against the Voodoo Murders it might be a welcomed change to see gaijin’s finally on the side of All Japan over the predominate heel side.
With a new Junior Heavyweight Champion finally crowned it is time to find a challenger. Shuji Kondo has already put his name in the hat to be the first in line to face Minoru, but Kaz Hayashi is being thrown back in as well.
On 2/6 there will be a 3 Way match between Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo & Minoru. Then on 2/11, Kaz Hayshi will face Shuji Kondo to decide who will be the first to face Minoru.
No date has been announced for the title match yet, but All Japan has 2011 Pro Wrestling LOVE in Ryougoku Vol.11 on 3/21 as their upcoming big event. Not sure if they will wait that long to put the title up, but they do not have too many shows listed right now.
Also Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi, from BJW, will be facing Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya back to back on 2/6 and 2/11. If Sekimoto & Okabayashi can pick up a win at either shows they would definitely be in line for another match against them for the All Asia Tag Team Belts.
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This should sum up some of the news that is making it ways on the net in Japan, for all this news and more be sure to check out the #1 Japanese Pro Wrestling News Network, Puroresu Spirit at the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PuroresuSpirit and on twitter at www.twitter.com/PuroresuSpirit
Also Joshua Shibata and myself are looking for some ways to change up the Puroresu Spirit Podcast, from wither topics to discuss from you the fans or just answering questions that you can send to PuroSpirit@gmail.com.