Today Major League Wrestling announced another opening round match for the 2019 Opera Cup tournament. It will be ZERO1’s Shinjiro Otani taking on Davey Boy Smith Jr. The event will take place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on December 5. and will be a MLW FUSION TV taping for beIN SPORTS and YouTube.
This will be a rare United States appearance for the Japanese legend Shinjiro Otani. The only other US appearance this year was for The Collective during WrestleMania weekend where he wrestled Eddie Kingston, Nick Gage, and Jonathan Gresham over the course of the weekend.
https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1196520077325193218
From MLW.com:
Representing ZERO1 of Japan, the decorated Shinjiro Otani has made it his goal to claim the prestigious Opera Cup and he has the credentials to be an instant favorite to go all the way. A former Pro Wrestling ZERO1 World Champion, 4-time Fire Festival winner and J-Crown title holder, Otani also has the distinction of being the first-ever WCW World Cruiserweight Champion and is a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
Otani has been a force in ZERO1 for 2 decades. It was in ZERO1 that Otani challenged then reigning MLW World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima for the championship in 2003. Now, 16 years later, Otani’s mission is simple: bring the antique Opera Cup trophy home to Japan.
The December 5 MLW event will feature the return of the Opera Cup tournament after a 71 year hiatus. Featuring 4 opening round bouts, the league has invited some of the best wrestlers from around the world to compete in this one night single elimination tournament.
Standing in Otani’s way is the man whose grandfather last won the Opera Cup in 1948: Davey Boy Smith Jr. Smith along with the Hart family have donated the family heirloom to the league and has revived the historic Opera Cup tournament to celebrate the sport’s history and reintroduce the coveted cup.
Fighting for his family’s legacy and the coveted Opera Cup trophy, Smith promises to match Otani hold for hold, move for move and strike for strike as the two strong style combatants collide in New York City.