Twins vs. Brothers: Shane Ballard & Shannon Ballard vs. Jose Maximo & Joel Maximo 14:00
Aussie Beef (Waguta Kuroge) & Fugofugo Yumeji vs. Prince Nana & Sal The Man 15:40
Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & 200% Machine (Yoji Anjo) 16:55
C.W. Anderson & Paul London vs. Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka 17:02
NWA UPW ZERO-ONE International Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Low ki vs. A.J. Styles 17:03. Highly athletic, super stiff, very technical, generally an impressive match on all fronts. These two really worked with each other, always setting the opponent up to counter. They did an excellent 80's style junior opening, using basic holds to develop athletic counters. I liked when Ki forward rolled to alleviate the pressure of Styles' arm then faked a kip up but kicked A.J. in the face instead. Styles countered Ki's whip into the guard rail by leap frogging it twice, but the 2nd time Ki was ready for it and followed with a jumping kick over the guard rail. I generally felt that the first half was better than the second. They built the match up so well with counters it was hard to live up to that standard once they started doing the big moves, but they certainly did on occasion. Ki countering Styles huracanrana with a powerbomb into a jackknife cradle was pretty nice, but by far the highlight of all the counters was a truly wild spot where Styles caught Ki's phoenix splash and gave him the Styles clash. In any case, it was a really good match that may have had more effort than they give in a years worth of TNA matches. ***3/4
Mr. OTANI & MASA TANAKA vs. Tom Howard & Steve Corino 14:21
Hashif Khan (Shinya Hashimoto) vs. Jason Alcatraz 10:06
1/5/03 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Twins vs. Brothers: Shane Ballard & Shannon Ballard vs. Jose Maximo & Joel Maximo 14:00
Aussie Beef (Waguta Kuroge) & Fugofugo Yumeji vs. Prince Nana & Sal The Man 15:40
Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & 200% Machine (Yoji Anjo) 16:55
C.W. Anderson & Paul London vs. Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka 17:02
NWA UPW ZERO-ONE International Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Low ki vs. A.J. Styles 17:03
Mr. OTANI & MASA TANAKA vs. Tom Howard & Steve Corino 14:21
Hashif Khan (Shinya Hashimoto) vs. Jason Alcatraz 10:06
1/31/04 Differ Ariake
NWA United National Heavyweight Title Decision Indian Strap Match:
Steve Corino vs. Masa Tanaka 12:14
Leonardo Spanky vs. Low Ki vs. Frankie (Frankie Kazarian) 9:44
Hashif Khan vs. Magma The Kirawea 7:42
Prince Nana vs. Fugofugo Yumeji
Naohiro Hoshikawa & Kohei Sato & Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinsuke Z Yamagasa vs. Don Arakawa & Ape The Man & Aussie Beef& Boogie Man
C.W. Anderson & Paul London vs. Shane & Shannon Ballard
Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs. S.A.T
Ist ZERO-ONE US Heavyweight Crown Decision Match: Steve Corino vs. Masa Tanaka
Jason Alcatraz & A.J. Styles vs. Mr. Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Shogun (Shinya Hashimoto) & Wataru Sakata vs. Tom Howard & Low ki
Shinsuke Z Yamagasa vs. Fugofugo Yumeji
Jun Kasai vs. Fuyuki Takahashi
Pentagon Viper & Villano 4 vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Naohiro Hoshikawa
Wataru Sakata & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Low Ki & Yoshihito Sasaki
Shinjiro Otani vs. Waguta Kuroge
Tengu Kaiser vs. Masato Tanaka
Naoya Ogawa & Katsuhisa Fujii vs. The Predator & Steve Corino
Matt Ghaffari & Tom Howard & King Adamo vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi
Jun Kasai vs. Shinsuke Z Yamagasa
Gran Hamada & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Pentagon Viper & Villano IV
Masato Tanaka & Kuroge Wagyuta vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Kohei Sato
The Predator vs. Hirotaka Yokoi
Low Ki & KENTA vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshito Sasaki
Tom Howard & King Adamo vs. Shinjiro Otani & Ryoji Sai
Handicap Match: Shinya Hashimoto & Tengu Kaiser vs. Kodo Fuyuki &
Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda
Keiji Mutoh & All Japan army confront Hashimoto & Zero-One army
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Pentagon 7:51. Hidaka gave it a go, but Pentagon was out of shape. Pentagon tried several cool moves, but wasn't as precise and/or graceful as he needed to be, so most didn't come off smoothly. There were a few genuine highlights such as Hidaka hitting a slingshot Frankensteiner to the floor, but generally it was kind of rough as Pentagon just didn't have the atheticism to hang with Hidaka. *1/4
Don Arakawa & Jun Kasai vs. Fuyuki Takahashi & Shinsuke Z Yamagasa 10:44
Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Vansack Acid vs. Low Ki & Paul London 15:22. Certainly had it's moments, but they were too sporadic for the match to build momentum. They got an early standing ovation for a series of dives capped by London's shooting star press off the apron, but then reverted back to standard fair. They just weren't challenging themselves, all too content to stand around and hit each other. It became more of a junior style match in the final 5 minutes, but even then it was inconsistent. Everyone was okay, but Takaiwa & Low Ki are certainly capable of a lot more. London seemed to stand out the most because he had the most spectacular flying, and was willing to deliver it, but I don't know that he did anything special beyond that. **1/2
Kendo Kashin & Kaz Hayashi & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Yoshito Sasaki 15:46
Tengu Kaiser vs. Akio Kobayashi 4:45
Masato Tanaka & Kohei Sato vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura 13:06. Passionate, hard hitting and energetic interpromotional sprint. They worked at Tanaka's pace and energy level, playing up the rivalry and generally beating the crap out of each other. Ikeda was able to work shoot style with former Shooto fighter Sato, while Tanaka & Sugiura brutalized each other with strikes and suplexes. The match was fairly even until Sugiura leaped off the apron to spike Ikeda's piledriver to Sato on the floor, working Sato over until Tanaka was able to make the hot tag. The match ended too soon and too early, but I think Tanaka was injured from Sugiura dangerously dropping him on a blown suplex. Tanaka & Ikeda were the standouts as you'd expect, but generally everyone did well and definitely gave the extra for the big show. Sugiura even surprised me with a swandive shoulderblock. ***1/2
Matt Ghaffari & Steve Corino & King Adamo vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Wataru Sakata & Katsuhisa Fujii 11:20
Yoshihiro Takayama & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. The Predator & Jimmy Snuka, Jr. 13:59
Naoya Ogawa vs. Tom Howard 12:32
Shinya Hashimoto & Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Keiji Muto & Arashi 23:00
3/2/03: Shinya Hashimoto & Shinjiro Otani vs. Keiji Muto & Arashi 23:00
7/6/03 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Satoshi Kojima & Kendo Kashin vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Wataru Sakata 14:21
NWA Super Heavyweight Title Decision OVER-300 Battle Royal: Matt Ghaffari vs. The Predator vs. Arashi vs. King Dabada 8:58
8/10/03 ZERO-ONE United States Heavyweight Title: The Predator vs.
Hulk Ogan (Naoya Ogawa) 13:12
11/11/04 Tokyo Korakuen Hall ZERO-ONE United States Heavyweight Title Match: Kohei Sato vs. Steve Corino 19:43
11/5/03: Fugofugo Yumeji vs. Ou Kensyo
11/11/04
Martial Arts: Ou Kensyo vs. Osamu Namiguchi 2:12
Masato Tanaka & Takao Omori vs. Shinjiro Otani & Wataru Sakata 19:43
Ryuji Hijikata vs. Shinsuke Z Yamagasa 5:11
Don Arakawa & & Jun Kasai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Fuyuki Takahashi 14:15
Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hido & Mukai vs. Tengu Kaiser & Kuroge Waguta & Fuyuki Takahashi & Shinsuke Z Yamagasa 13:13
Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Vansack Acid vs. Wataru Sakata & Yoshihito Sasaki 15:27
Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Low Ki 13:58
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Satoshi Kojima & Hideki Hosaka 18:41
Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Akio Kobayashi vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato 13:02
Shinsuke Z Yamagasa vs. Vansack Acid
Naohiro Hoshikawa & Jun Kasai vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Kid Vicious
Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Chocoball Mukai vs. Yoshihito Sasaki & Katsuhisa Fujii & Fugofugo Yumeji
Kohei Sato vs. Fuyuki Takahashi
King Adamo & Horshu vs. Tengu Kaiser & Kuroge Wagyu
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Naoya Ogawa & Wataru Sakata vs. The Predator & Low Ki
Shinya Hashimoto & Kazuhiko Ogasawara vs. Tom Howard & Steve Corino
Low ki & Vansack Acid vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Jun Kasai. 14:47
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Katsumi Usuda vs. Kuroge Wagyu & Hideki Hosaka. 8:23
Wataru Sakata & Yoshihito Sasaki & Fugofugo Yumeji & Fuyuki Takahashi & Shinsuke Z Yamagasa vs. Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hido & Chocoball Mukai & Shinjuku Same. 14:03
King Adamo vs. Tengu Kaiser. 7:30
Steve Corino & C.W. Anderson vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Naohiro Hoshikawa. 13:28
The Predator & John Heidenreich vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato. 19:51
Tom Howard & Jason The Legend vs. Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka. 20:41
Jun Kasai & Don Arakawa vs. Vansack Acid & Tadahiro Fujisaki
Tengu Kaizer vs. Shinsuke Sumiya
Wataru Sakata & Kyohei Mikami vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yoshito Sasaki
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Katsumi Usuda vs. Masato Tanaka & Yusaku& Hideki Hosaka
NWA Intercontinental Tag Title Match: C.W. Anderson & Steve Corino vs. Kohei Sato & Hiro Yokoi
International Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Low ki vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa 15:04 of 24:59. Some great action, though marred by a bit of goofiness. The theme was Low ki having a bad knee, which he hurt early landing on his feet when Takaiwa suplexed him to the floor. Ki sold this huge, which was good, but what was annoying is a minute earlier Takaiwa had crashed his back on the floor when Ki avoided a pescado, yet Takaiwa was as good as new after a few seconds. Anyway, Ki did an exceptional job of putting over the knee for about 2/3 of the match. He used it as little as possible, showed it was hampering him whenever he could including keeping him from having much luck countering Takaiwa's power moves. A great knee spot saw Takaiwa counter the tidal crush with a lariat to the knee then slap on a scorpion. Takaiwa doesn't have many knee spots, so they had to shift to his usual dangerous moves in the later stages. They tried a spot where Takaiwa turns Ki's phoenix splash into a Mochizuki bomb, but Takaiwa didn't really catch Ki, so it didn't work nearly as well as the Styles clash counter from the 1/5/03 title match. What was really annoying is Ki then kicked out of a Death Valley bomb at 1, so then Takaiwa had to kick out at 1. But they got things back under control and overall, it wasn't one of Takaiwa's more goofy or out of control matches. It was a lot more focused actually, and they were able to play off each other's strengths and move sets really well. Ki gave an excellent performance here, and Takaiwa was a good opponent, a tough guy that Ki, of course, wasn't intimidated by and was instead motivated to step up and put a hurting on. ***1/2 range
Shinjiro Otani vs. Tom Howard
The Predator & Jon Heidenreich vs. Matt Ghaffari & King Adamo
Naoya Ogawa & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima
Shinsuke Z Yamagasa vs. Fuyuki Takahashi 8:32
Viewtiful Joe vs. The Joker 4:55
Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Kuroge Wagyuta & Hideki Hosaka 14:37
Steve Corino & C.W. Anderson & Michael Shane & Paul London vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Ikuto Hidaka & Yoshihito Sasaki 21:24
Jun Kasai vs. Wataru Sakata 9:17
Tom Howard vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda 10:46
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Katsumi Usuda 15:36
The Predator & John Heidenreich vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Kintaro Kanemura 12:16
Wataru Sakata & Paul London vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yoshihito Sasaki
NWA & UPW & ZERO-ONE International Jr. Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Match: Michael Shane vs. Ikuto Hidaka
Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Jun Kasai
Tengu Kaiser vs. Kohei Sato
Tom Howard & Jason The Legend vs. The Predator & John Heidenreich
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka & Kuroge Wagyuta & Hideki Hosaka vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Akio Kobayashi & Katsumi Usuda
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hirotaka Yokoi
Fuyuki Takahashi vs. Fugofugo Yumeji 7:30
Shinsuke Z Yamagasa vs. Taichi Ishikari 8:11
Paul London & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Jun Kasai 15:03
The Predator vs. Kohei Sato 10:02
Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Wataru Sakata & Naohiro Hoshikawa 13:40
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. King Adamo & King Dabada 11:26
NWA Intercontinental Tag Title Match: Steve Corino & C.W. Anderson c vs. Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda 15:57
Naoya Ogawa & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuhiko Ogasawara vs. Matt Ghaffari & Tom Howard & Michael Shane 10:02
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Taichi Ishikari 6:10
Don Arakawa & Jun Kasai vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Fuyuki Takahashi 6:39
C.W. Anderson vs. Yoshihito Sasaki 5:19
Matt Ghaffari & King Adamo vs. Tengu Kaiser & Katsuhisa Fujii 6:16
Tom Howard & Paul London vs. King Dabada & Michael Shane 10:40
ZERO-ONE U.S. Heavyweight Title Match: Steve Corino vs. The Predator 9:48
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Wataru Sakata vs. Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka & Hideki Hosaka 11:14
Keiji Muto & Arashi & Nobutaka Araya vs. Naoya Ogawa & Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi 10:39
NWA Intercontinental Tag Title Match: Steve Corino & C.W. Anderson vs. Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi 15:23. Competent technical match with Corino & Anderson mainly selling submissions then working Yokoi's knee after Anderson cheapshotted him from the floor with a chair. It was weird seeing a guy wearing MMA gloves use a chair shot, but apart from these couple instances it was mainly an 80's style match with the natives dominating until they were undermined by an illegal tactic. The NWA refs were rooting for the gaijins since it's an American title, and after much interference they finally not only ignored both of Corino's feet being in the ropes for leverage, but also gave Yokoi a lightning quick count to keep the title from the Japanese. Really a shameful finish to a match where the Americans were clearly the better wrestlers. **
Kazuhiko Ogasawara vs. King Adamo 4:44
Satoshi Kojima & Kendo Kashin vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Wataru Sakata 14:21. There was enough talent here, but they had no real direction, so it never developed in terms of style or stories. Sakata & Kashin did their shoot style stuff, with Sakata looking really good and Kashin benefitting from having a good opponent. Kashin used some shady tactics here to get heel heat for the All Japan team, but Kojima didn't really aid in this endeavor. The match was worlds better with Kojima in, but as the only heavyweight, he lacked a logical opponent. Takaiwa was mainly paired with him, and was very aggressive with his strikes trying to prove he belonged. Sakata was more credible in terms of style and aggressive, pissed off demeanor, but either way the match was good with Kojima in. Kashin was by far the weak link, but in the end, I'm not sure how much it mattered when they were content to just kind of meandered along, showcasing some impressive strikes and a few big power moves before abruptly ending. **1/2
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Alexander Otsuka 15:23. This may as well have been a handicap match, as Otsuka did at least 98% of the work for his team. Tanaka was energized from the outset, doing some good work with Otsuka, and Otani was pretty decent here as well. It started out well, but they weren't able to sustain the initial pace because Otsuka wasn't getting any help, and thus not only was he denied a breather, but he had to sell the entire match since it was 2 on 1. Fujiwara came in and choked Otani once, and did a kick to save his partner, but he was looking every bit of his 54 years, and was really just a mascot. With Otsuka trapped in the role of whipping boy, the outcome became academic and the match progressively lost steam. **1/4
NWA Super Heavyweight Title Decision OVER-300 Battle Royal: Matt Ghaffari vs. The Predator vs. Arashi vs. King Dabada 8:58
The Conclusion Destruction or Dangerous: Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Keiji Muto & Toshiaki Kawada 19:45. Everyone wanted this to be good, including the wrestlers, but they weren't really on today, particularly with their mobility. Kawada was able to consistently get heat by taking it to the opposition, his aggressive, ass kicking tactics getting over whether the strikes were looking that good or not, but otherwise the heat was disappointing. The best part was perhaps Kawada reigning mount punches on a helpless Ogawa, just ignoring the ref as he grabbed him around the waste and tried in vain to yank him off. Hashimoto tried, but didn't have anything beyond standing around striking, Muto did the same few things Muto always does and let Kawada do most of the work, and Ogawa was all kinds of awkward both with his selling and even with his constant repositioning to throw a follow up kick. The pairings started out as Kawada vs. Ogawa and Muto vs. Hashimoto, but after Muto injured Hashimoto's knee early, which gave him an excuse to stand around, they shifted to Kawada vs. Hashimoto. Kawada followed Muto's lead working the knee, but it was more about the strike exchanges, with Kawada breaking up a big back and forth by taking a cheap shot to the knee. Hashimoto would have the last laugh though as he blocked Kawada's ganmengiri with a kesagiri chop to the knee to set up the kneebar, which ultimately resulted in Masa Fuchi throwing the towel in. The match made you want to see Kawada vs. Hashimoto and Ogawa, yet didn't exactly lead you to believe the Kawada vs. Hashimoto dream match could manage not to be a disappointment. ***
7/6/03 The Conclusion Destruction or Dangerous: Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Keiji Muto & Toshiaki Kawada 19:45
1/30/04: Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Jun Kasai 12:38
4/30/04 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
NWA United National Heavyweight Title: Masato Tanaka vs. Shinjiro Otani 14:20
Shinya Hashimoto & Riki Choshu vs. Dan Bobish & Jason The Legend 8:40
5/21/04 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
NWA UN Heavyweight Title Match Hardcore Rule: Masato Tanaka vs. Hirotaka Yokoi 14:05
Shinya Hashimoto & Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Wataru Sakata 15:10
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Josh Daniels 8:54
Don Arakawa & Jun Kasai vs. Fuyuki Takahashi & Vansack Acid 8:40
Fire Festival 2003 Block B Match: Tetsuhiro Kuroda [2] vs. Kohei Sato [2] 10:36
Fire Festival 2003 Block A Match: Hirotaka Yokoi [4] vs. Kintaro Kanemura [2] 7:21
CM Punk & CW Anderson vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Wataru Sakata 8:04
Hideki Hosaka & Kuroge Wagyuta vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki 9:13
Fire Festival 2003 Block A Match: Arashi [4] vs. Shinjiro Otani [1] 14:53
Fire Festival 2003 Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima [2] vs. Masato Tanaka [4] 26:05
Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Taichi Ishikari 8:36
Hirotaka Yokoi & Kohei Sato vs. Hideki Hosaka & Kuroge Wagyuta 11:04
Fire Festival 2003 Block B Match: Alexander Otsuka [3] vs. Masato Tanaka [5] 9:18
Fire Festival 2003 Block A Match: Yoshiaki Fujiwara [3] vs. Arashi [4] 5:01
CM Punk & CW Anderson & Josh Daniels vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Vansack Acid 11:16
Jun Kasai & Tengu Kaiser vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Wataru Sakata 15:20
Fire Festival 2003 Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima [4] vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda [2] 12:52
Fire Festival 2003 Block A Match: Shinjiro Otani [3] vs. Kintaro Kanemura [2] 10:38
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Ikuto Hidaka 9:18
Fire The Dragon & FugoFugo Kameji vs. Don Arakawa & Saru The Man 8:55
Katsuhisa Fujii & Wataru Sakata vs. Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Yoshihito Sasaki 9:41
All Asia Tag Team Title Match: Hirotaka Yokoi & Kohei Sato vs. Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda 15:33
The Great Kosuke vs. King Adamo 9:59
NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Title Match: CW Anderson & Steve Corino vs. MASA TANAKA & Mr. OTANI 13:58
SHOGUN & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. CM Punk & Jimmy Snuka Jr. & Tengu Kaiser 14:34
Kokushi Muso & Low Ki vs. Josh Daniels & Tom Howard 14:00
ZERO-ONE United States Heavyweight Title Match: The Predator vs. Hulk Ogan (Naoya Ogawa) 13:12
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Yoshihito Sasaki
Don Arakawa & Jun Kasai & Josh Daniels vs. Vansack Acid & Shinsuke Z Yamagasa & Fuyuki Takahashi
Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Kazuhiko Ogasawara
Tengu Kaiser vs. Katsuhisa Fujii
Asia Tag Title Match: Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. King Adamo & King Joe
World #1 Junior Heavyweight Title & NWA/UPW/ZERO-ONE International Junior Heavyweight Title Unification Match: Wataru Sakata vs. Low Ki
NWA Intercontinental Tag Title Match: Steve Corino & C.W. Anderson vs. Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka
Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. The Predator & Jason The Legend
Tomoaki Honma vs. Yoshihito Sasaki 12:47. Honma wasn't getting much opportunity to show his stuff in All Japan, so he was happy to do his thing in 01, even if in an equally meaningless undercard match. Honma called for a hardcore style match, which they wrestled with a pile of chairs in the ring. It was vintage '99-00 era Big Japan Honma, doing what was first and foremost a fast paced action oriented junior style match, but one that contained enough gimmick spots to please the garbage wrestling fans. Sasaki is hardly great, but he's at least less incompetent than than most of the stiffs Honma faced in BJW, and he's certainly a willing and hard working opponent. Sasaki actually seemed much better here, not always showing great offense, but giving and taking well enough and definitely putting his heard into the match. They fought around the arena early, with Sasaki hitting his spear in the crowd. Honma actually used a chair to break up Sasaki's chinlock. You felt going in that Sasaki had 0 chance of winning this, but Honma did a nice job of making it dramatic, and had the fans believing Sasaki could pin him. Most of the spots down the stretch were aided by the chair, with both doing bombs onto them before Honma won with a wild avalanche style backdrop onto the plunder. A pleasant surprise, and a generally fun match. ***
Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tengu Kaiser vs. Tom Howard & Wataru Sakata 8:37 of 10:49. A real mixed bag with Hoshikawa & Sakata doing stiff strikes, Kaiser doing a junior style with a bit of hardcore thrown in, and Howard playing the no selling beast. Hoshikawa & Sakata had a nice exchange, but were barely in together, with Hoshikawa instead blasting away on Howard, who just made silly faces at him. Kaiser tried a swinging DDT into the front row, except his butt landed on a chair well before Sakata's head. It all went along rather unevenly until Sakata inexplicably ripped Kaiser's mask off for the DQ, setting up some new masked guy to make the save. Even given Howard, this should have been world's better than the throwaway it ultimately was. *
Jun Kasai vs. Homicide 11:04
Sean McCully & LA The Giant vs. Hideki Hosaka & Kuroge Waguta 7:06
Hirotaka Yokoi & Kohei Sato vs. Zandig & Nick Gage 10:06
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Kintaro Kanemura & Mr. Gannosuke 15:25. The main event of 01's first hardcore theme show proved that FMW lives! The crowd was into this spirited, action packed display featuring table breaking, chairs, blood, and too much outside interference. Former FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Champs Kanemura & Gannosuke teamed for the first time in over 2 years with the whole WMF/Fuyuki Army crew of Tetsuhiro Kuroda, GOEMON, Onryo, GENTARO & Hido at ringside to aid and abet. Though Tanaka is the man in this style, it was Otani who worked most of the way, getting destroyed and bleeding heavily. Earlier in the week, Kanemura asked Tanaka to return to his hardcore roots and rejoin the indy army, but Tanaka told him he wasn't interested before the match. However, after seeing his partner failing, Tanaka appeared to have a change of heart. He held a limp Otani, but when Kanemura & Gannosuke charged, Tanaka released him and took them out with a double running lariat then had a big run of offense. The numbers just weren't on EMBLEM's side though, and after Hido took the ZERO-ONE ref out just before he could count a fall, the indy army jumped in and stuffed Gannosuke's avalanche style powerbomb onto a pile of chairs to set up Kanemaru hitting his blast YAMA special (diving senton) onto a pile of chairs. Former FMW referee (and current Fuyuki Army Producer) Go Ito rushed to the ring to count the fall for his buddies, and Hido forced the ring announcer to declare Kanemura & Gannosuke the victors. Zero One manager Nakamura came out and protested, but Ito shut him up with a wheel kick. The finish wasn't my favorite, but the match was a series of well executed and exciting gimmick oriented spots with Otani even looking at home in the foreign style. I'm glad Tanaka doesn't still do this every day, but this was absolutely a fun change of pace for EMBLEM. ***
Hideki Hosaka vs. Kuroge Waguta. 2:06 of 8:07
Don Arakawa & Jun Kasai & Vansack Acid vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Ikuto Hidaka & Fuyuki Takahashi. 9:44 of 14:27
Tengu Kaiser & Hardcore Kid vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki. 4:55 of 12:19
Steve Corino vs. Hirotaka Yokoi. 6:08 of 8:15
Satoshi Kojima & Kendo Kashin vs. Tom Howard & Low ki. 13:57 of 16:53
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kohei Sato. 7:13
Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Wataru Sakata & Katsuhisa Fujii. 13:26
Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. The Predator & Mike Knox. 12:55
Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi & Jun Kasai vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yoshihito Sasaki, & Kuroge Waguta. 16:25 of 20:41
Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Wataru Sakata & Osamu Namiguchi. 13:56
Steve Corino vs. Sean McCully. 4:07 of 8:00
Shingeki Rule: Akio Kobayashi vs. Kazuhiko Ogasawara. 3:15 of 4:41
Shinjiro Otani vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. 15:25
L.A. The Giant & X (Takao Omori) vs. Naoya Ogawa & Katsuhisa Fujii. 8:48 of 13:48
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masato Tanaka 16:06
1/6/02 NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Nathan Jones 13:17
3/9/02 NWA World International Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Dan Severn 16:14
5/23/02 NWA International Heavyweight Title Match: Hot Stuff Hernandez vs. Shinya Hashimoto 4:43
11/7/03: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masato Tanaka 16:06
Naohiro Hoshikawa & Low Ki vs. Mikey Henderson & MIKAMI. 15:58
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Don Arakawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Yoshihito Sasaki & Ikuto Hidaka & Vansack Acid. 9:26
Handicap Match: The Predator & Jason The Legend vs. Tengu Kaiser & Katsuhisa Fujii & Jun Kasai. 9:36
Kazuhiko Ogasawara vs. Akio Kobayashi. 4:46
ZERO-ONE vs. NWA: Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Steve Corino & Jerry Lynn. 11:59
NWA/UPW/ZERO-ONE International Jr. Heavyweight & World 1 Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Wataru Sakata vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda. 14:56
Survivor Game: Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Takao Omori & Tom Howard. 17:00
Head-On Collision: Naoya Ogawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. 18:36
Nedayashi (extermination)!Crush~: Shinya Hashimoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinsuke Z Yamagasa & Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi & Osamu Namiguchi vs. Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii & Ichiro Yaguchi & Takashi Uwano 14:26
Fugofugo Yumeji vs. Osamu Roko. 5:21
Tomohiro Ishii & Takashi Uwano vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yoshihito Sasaki. 10:53
Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Jun Kasai & Vansack Acid. 12:43
Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Katsuhisa Fujii. 5:47
Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Mammoth Sasaki vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Kohei Sato. 14:48
Takao Omori vs. Masato Tanaka. 10:58
Shinjiro Otani vs. Shinya Hashimoto 19:54
Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Osamu Rouko 7:39
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Don Arakawa 10:00
NWA International Light Heavyweight Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinals: Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Goemon & Onryo 16:44
NWA International Light Heavyweight Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinals: Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Takashi Uwano 11:01
Masato Tanaka vs. Katsuhisa Fujii 8:34
Asia Tag Title: Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Tengu Kaiser & Jun Kasai 12:37
Shinjiro Otani vs. Mammoth Sasaki 9:33
Naoya Ogawa vs. Hirotaka Yokoi 10:00
Takao Omori & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Naoya Ogawa & Kohei Sato 15:02
Kuroge Wagyuta vs. Fugo Fugo Yumeji 5:39
Manabu Hara vs. Osamu Namiguchi 6:18
Jun Kasai & Tengu Kaiser vs. Fuyuki Takahashi & Vansack Acid 11:59
Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Katsumi Usuda 9:49
Akio Kobayashi vs. Akashi Tiger 6:28
Masato Tanaka vs. Kazuhiko Ogasawara 7:29
NWA International Lightweight Tag Title Tournament Final: Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa 20:48
Takao Omori vs. Shinjiro Otani 16:46
Hirotaka Yokoi & Naoya Ogawa vs. Katsuhisa Fujii & Kohei Sato 11:38
3/2/01: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata 19:10
12/15/02: Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Matt Ghaffari & Tom Howard 12:23
5/2/03: Naoya Ogawa & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima
12/14/03: Shinya Hashimoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinsuke Z Yamagasa & Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi & Osamu Namiguchi vs. Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii & Ichiro Yaguchi & Takashi Uwano 14:26
12/24/03: Shinjiro Otani vs. Shinya Hashimoto 19:54