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Year End Special! ZERO1 Land!

December 23rd, 2005

ZERO1-MAX had their final show of 2005 tonight in front of a packed Korakuen Hall. This was a stacked card with many visiting fighters on the show, topped off by former tag team partners Shinjiro Otani and Takao Omori in a singles match for the double main event.

Omori and Otani had their up-and-downs in 2005 after being successful tag team partners in 2004. The two ended up on opposite sides of the AWA Heavyweight tournament at the beginning of the year, and then Otani reunited with Masato Tanaka to reform Team EMBLEM. Otani and Omori's friendship took a harder hit when Otani brought the "Debt King" Tadao Yasuda into the promotion after a lackluster performance in the Fire Festival, and booked him to be Omori's tag team partner.

Omori protested this from the beginning, as he had personally chosen Kamikaze as his tag partner. Yasuda wanted to fight for the opportunity to be Omori's partner, and to prove himself. Eventually Omori was won over by Yasuda's new dedication to pro wrestling, as Yasuda began winning matches cleanly and doing small things like helping stacking the chairs and taking down the ring after shows.

On September 16th, 2005 Tadao Yasuda defeated Kamikaze in a singles match with the "Axe Bomber" (Omori's finisher). Following that on October 9th, Yasuda finally showed his true colors and personality by turning on his partner Omori during a NWA Intercontinental Tag Team title match versus Kohei Sato and Ryoji Sai! Apparently Yasuda isn't only the "Debt King" but the "Scam King" as well! After the match, Omori called out Otani and told him he knew this would eventually happen and he blames Otani for allowing somebody with the "Debt Kings" reputation into ZERO1-MAX. He then demanded a match against Yasuda the next night, but to add insult to injury was defeated with a simple backslide in just over 7 minutes. Not sure where to go and with no allies he felt he could trust, Omori instead founded his own stable of hand picked young indy fighters. While it has given him some quick allies, these youngsters have only increased Omori's recent stress levels.

As for their match on this show, it went just over 20 minutes in a back-and-forth contest with lots of power moves and brawling and the crowd split between both of the fighters. The contest almost went to a double count-out, when both men, after fighting on the outside made it back to the ring just at the 19 second count. The end came when Omori went for the Axe Guillotine Driver, which Otani reversed into a quick powerbomb! Omori wasn't out yet and got to his feet to once again hit the Axe Guillotine Driver before both men fell to the canvas as the crowd cheered! Omori rose first, and nailed Otani with the Axe Bomber - but the "Fire Festival '05" victor kicked out at the 2 count! Omori hit the ropes to deliver another Axe Bomber but Otani intercepted his arm with a Hashimoto chop, and then hit an elbow smash turning Omori completely around. With his opponent's back facing him Otani grabbed the dragon suplex hold for the 1-2-3!

After the match Otani thanked the crowd for helping ZERO1-MAX have such a successful "first" year and for all their support through the ups and downs. He promised ZERO1 would go strong in 2006 and be even more successful. The crowd began to chant "Zero-1! Zero-1! Zero-1!" before he lead them in the "3, 2, 1, ZERO-1...ohhhhhhhhh...MAX" call.

The billed "2nd Main Event" was actually the third-to-last match on the show, a singles match between Kohei Sato and former Triple Crown champion and freelance fighter - Toshiaki Kawada. This was booked by Otani as an "ordeal" match for Kohei, who was originally suppose to follow this up on January 4th in New Japan Pro Wrestling against Shinsuke Nakamura...before that card was rescheduled several times.

Kohei and Kawada had a hard hitting match as well, with lots of chops, kicks and knee strikes. Kohei managed to get his German suplex hold in but Kawada kicked out. Kawada then hit the jumping kick and the running face kick for the victory! After the match Kawada picked Kohei up, shook his hand and announced he's seen tremendous growth in the young heavyweight the past few years. He then said he wanted Kohei to be his tag partner on the following night's HUSTLE "Christmas Special" show.

Also near the top of the fight card was a 6-man tag involving visiting fighters from Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragondoor and the Dramatic Dream Team. ZERO1-MAX participation in this match was left to the teacher and student pairing of Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Osamu Namiguchi who were in separate corners. Takaiwa teamed with the NOAH fighters Kotaro Suzuki and Ricky Marvin and his student Nami teamed with Taiji Ishimori (Dragondoor) and Iufushi Kota (DDT). While Suzuki won the match by defeating Nami, Takaiwa had good words to say about him after the match, mentioning how his trip to Mexico has improved the young fighter.

Before the show started ZERO1-MAX Ring Announcer, Oki, told the crowd that GAMMA had been injured and that the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team match against the 2005 Japanese tag team MVP's and current holders of the titles, Hidaka and Fujita, was going to be defaulted. This caused GAMMA's scheduled partner, Takuya Sugawara, to enter the ring and accost Oki. Sugawara had Fujita's Lightweight tag title (which he had previously stolen) hanging around his neck, and was accompanied by Kagetora. He said that Kagetora would be his partner tonight and the title match was still on.

When it came to match time however, His big talk was for naught, as unable to succeed in cheating with his black box, Sugawara was pinned when Fujita reversed Sugawara's Shiisanputa finisher into a modified clutch hold to get the pin! GAMMA was present at ringside and spent a lot of time distracting the referee while Sugawara and Kagetora cheated. After the match Sugawara tried once again to steal Fujita's tag title belt, but Oki quickly protected the belts and handed them to Hidaka. After the match Kagetora announced on the mic that he'd be returning to ZERO1-MAX for another NWA International Lightweight tag team titles match. Sugawara reverted back to the black box when he attacked Fujita during a post-contest press conference and demanded a singles match.

The fourth match of the show was a "No DQ/Falls Count Anywhere" match between two current ZERO1-MAX and former FMW fighters, Masato Tanaka and Yoshihito Sasaki versus the "Tokyo Gangsters" of NOSAWA and MAZADA. This match stems from the challenge NOSAWA issued to Tanaka after attacking both he and Sasaki during the 12/15 "S-Arena." Due to the match stipulations the fighters went right to the outside of the ring where they used chairs, tables and a garbage can. The blood flowed freely, Sasaki was gushing blood from his head, before Tanaka hit the Diamond Dust on NOSAWA for the win.

The third match was between two "Stonehenge" members, Ryoji Sai and Hirotaka Yokoi. This match started out with lots of technical wrestling, ground submissions and reversals. Eventually Ryouji took over the match, hitting an avalanche brainbuster, which Yokoi recovered from immediately and returned the favor with a German suplex hold. Ryouji rose quickly and got a front choke, turning into a high angle back suplex dropping Yokoi right on his head. He then climbed to the top rope and hit the diving foot stomp for the 3 counts. After the match the two shook hands.

By this time New Japan Pro wrestling's Hirooki Goto, Minoru Tanaka and Naofumi Yamamoto were sitting in the audience just as they'd promised. Ryouji made sure to have words with them on the way out and the NJPW fighters were quite agitated. Naofumi Yamamoto is Ryouji's opponent on the opening match of the New Japan January 4th Tokyo Dome show.

During the ruckus, ZERO1-MAX President Mr. Nakamura entered the ring with the microphone and with a slightly mocking tone asked the fans to buy New Japan tickets as the show needs as much help for attendance as it can get, judging from recent records and that the New Japan wrestlers came to a ZERO1 show to advertise it. He invited the outside wrestlers to come to the ring and pitch the show to the crowd, playing Minoru Tanaka's ring music to entice him. The New Japan fighters remained in their seats and after the intermission were noticeably absent.

The second match was a bizarre spectacle, an "Indy Revenge - 2 out of 3 falls match." Two participants from the CRY MAX shows were present, Lingerie Muto and Bic Mouse. They were teamed with two new characters: the magic turtle man Kameichi and the man known as Miruku Cyro Koppu! ("Miruku Cyro Koppu" is an "Engrish" play on the name Mirko Cro Cop, the PRIDE mixed martial arts fighter.)

The opening match was between Kamikaze and Rikiya Fudo, which Kamikaze won in just under 11 minutes with the "Kamikaze Driver." Before the match, Shinjiro Otani came to the ring with the Tokyo Sport's Meritorious Service trophy awarded to Shinya Hashimoto. Otani accepted the trophy for the former ZERO-ONE boss on 12/20 at the award ceremony where Hidaka and Fujita received their MVP trophies, but wanted to transfer the trophy to Hashimoto's son. Hashimoto's son came to the ring, received the trophy and thanked the crowd. Then Oki announced Hashimoto one last time and they played his ring music as the crowd chanted along - "Hashi-moto! Hashi-moto! Hashi-moto!"

Nami Returns Ready to Fight!

December 21st, 2005

Osamu Namiguchi returned from Mexico today after his participation in Toryumon Mexico's "Young Dragons Cup" on December 10th at the Arena Coliseo where he defeated Banana Senga in the Quarterfinals before losing to Hajime Ohara in the Semifinals. Upon returning home to Japan, and after eating some noodles at the airport, Nami went right to the First On Stage office and spoke to Shinjiro Otani about some future matches he'd like to have in ZERO1-MAX in 2006.

He's looking to face off against Katsuhiko Nakajima for another shot at his WWA World Welterweight title, or perhaps against Takuya Sugawara whom Nakajima defended his title against on 12/11 at the Nakagawa show.

Nami also said he had some new skills that he picked up in Mexico and that he wants to show them off. Otani told him to keep acting selfish and complaining and maybe they'll give him a shot at it.

Nami also mentioned he'd like to face Hajime Ohara again in the future, and would also like to face the winner of the "Young Dragons Cup" - Kazuchida Okada.

Hidaka & Fujita Collect Their Prizes!

December 20th, 2005

The awards ceremony for the 2005 Pro Wrestling MVPs were held today, and Tag Team Winners Minoru Fujita and Ikuto Hidaka were there to accept their trophies and thank everybody who supported them through this year. Hidaka said he felt a little anxiety going up to the platform as he considers this a tremendous honor to achieve, and believes this might make it possible for a fighter to etch their name into the history books of Japanese pro wrestling.

He said if it wasn't for the opportunities ZERO1-MAX had presented he and Fujita this never would've happened. He also thanked all the wrestlers of the promotion "both senior and junior."

Mr. Nakamura also commented about their awards on the Japanese ZERO1-MAX website, adding that he'd hopes Hidaka & Fujita will take part in next year's Differ Cup and this time take home the victory. He added that Hidaka and Fujita's success has in turn helped the promotion succeed in 2005.

On an additional note he mentioned that the AWA Heavyweight title will be defended on January 22nd of 2006 in ZERO1-MAX, and that the winner of the Shinjiro Otani vs. Takao Omori singles match on 12/23 will be the challenger for the title that day. He also extended an invitation to former AWA Heavyweight champ, Nick Bockwinkel, to come and observe this title match.

Minoru Tanaka To Visit! More 1/4 Card Shuffling!

December 19th, 2005

Today during the New Japan Pro Wrestling show in Korakuen Hall after an 8-man tag match, Minoru Tanaka stated that he NJPW ring announcer Hidekazu Tanaka, Hirooki Goto and a few others will be sitting ringside at ZERO1-MAX's 12/23 show ZERO1 Land to see what the company is all about. He was quite mocking in his tone about ZERO1, but sent a letter to the ZERO1-MAX offices revealing his intentions to make the trip.

The ZERO1-MAX office responded to the NJPW fighter on their website, saying of course he can come to the show and then informed him at what date and time tickets go on sale. He also mentioned when tickets go on sale for the NJPW Tokyo Dome show, saying that company needs all the advertising they can get. "The wrestlers, the staff and the ring announcer of ZERO1-MAX offer their invitation in the highest regard, and from the heart we wait for the attendance of as many of you as possible. "

New Japan has also once more shuffled their 1/4 card. Kohei has a match again, added to the 10-man tag to make it a 12-man tag now. With Toru Yano joining the New Japan team on the other side. Yano mentioned Kohei by name during his announcement of his own participation, saying he would like to build a rivalry with the leader of Young MAX. New gaijin acquisition A-Train has also been added to the show near the top of the card.

Here's the New Japan 1/4 card updated once again:

NOSAWA in the S-Arena!

December 15th, 2005

Former All-Japan wrestlers and current freelance fighter NOSAWA invaded the ZERO1-MAX ring today at the "S-ARENA Vol.8" show.

Directly after the Hardcore mixed tag match between Masato Tanaka and Toshie Uematsu versus Yoshihito Sasaki and Ayako Hamada, he jumped in the ring with a garbage can and quickly shook both Tanaka and Sasaki's hands. He then announced that he had brought presents as a sign of respect for the two fighters.

He reached into his garbage can and came out with a cute stuffed animal which he presented to Sasaki. He then reached into the garbage can for Tanaka's present and came out with a Computer keyboard, which he promptly smashed on Tanaka's head! Sasaki and Hamada rushed to Tanaka's aid, but were met with hard garbage can shots to the head. NOSAWA then got on the microphone and announced that he challenges Tanaka to a match at the upcoming 12/23 Korakuen Hall show - ZERO1 LAND.

Hidaka & Fujita - 2005 Tag Team MVPs!

December 12th, 2005

Tokyo Sports announced the winners of their 2005 Pro Wrestling awards today and ZERO1-MAX tag team partner Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita won the MVP award for Tag Team of the year!

Fans of ZERO1-MAX know well of their success this past year, from winning the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team titles in March, to placing second in this years Differ Cup in May, to winning the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles two months ago. Hidaka and Fujita also held the PWF Universal Tag Teams titles this year and Hidaka has been the ZERO1-MAX International Jr. Heavyweight Champion since April. In response to winning this prestigious award, Hidaka and Fujita stated they are grateful to ZERO1-MAX and all their fans who gave them support. They also said they will do their best to improve even more and hope to once again win the award in 2006 as well.

New Japan Shuffles 1/4 Card!

December 10th, 2005

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced a major change to their main event for the January 4th "Toukon Shidou Chapter 1" Tokyo Dome show. Several ZERO1-MAX wrestlers are appearing in matches on this show, among them Shinjiro Otani, Takao Omori, Masato Tanaka, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Ryoji Sai, Kamikaze, Yoshihito Sasaki and Kohei Sato.

It's Kohei who is affected the most by this re-shuffling as the Inoki Office has pulled Kazuyuki Fujita from the show, and in his place IWGP Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will make his V1 defense against Kohei's original opponent - Shinsuke Nakamura. The President of NJPW, Simon Inoki, announced that Kohei will still have a match on the show and his new opponent will be announced soon.

Also at the NJPW show in Osaka today, Takao Omori and his former NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champion partner Shiro Koshinaka were on hand to sign the contracts for their Tokyo Dome match for the IWGP Tag Team titles. Current IWGP Tag Champs Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan were also on hand for the ceremony and things broke down as the two sides traded insults and eventually a brawl broke out disrupting the ceremony.