Post by Jeff L. on Oct 3, 2024 16:30:38 GMT -5
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
Osaka, Japan.
-------------------------------
They say once you hear it, you can’t get enough of it. The stomping of the feet. The clapping of the hands. The cheers, the jeers, the whole chaos of it. As the green strobe light flew over the eight thousand packed, followed by the electric guitar riff, he knew it all, better than anyone.
Clad in a shining silver robe, he made his way down the ramp, through the raucous crowd which screamed the three continent-famous syllables: “MI-SA-WA! MI-SA-WA!”. As the Emerald Wonder entered the ring and took of his robe, he was adorned in the green and white streamers, as his savvy opponent, the veteran Gran Hamada, looked on in focus. The bell rang, and “here we go!”, Wakabayashi cried.
#1: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Gran Hamada
This battle of the junior heavyweights started off rather flashy; Hamada was quick to send Misawa flying across the ring with his mexican style armdrags, and almost connected with a standing dropkick, if it wasn’t for Mitsuharu evading it. The younger opponent had slown down the flow of the match, and mostly used grounded maneuvers: the headlocks, the armbars, an occasional snapmare or a hip toss. He wasn’t having any of that lucha… lucha thing.
Misawa was however forced to speed it up, as Hamada relentlessly bounced off the ropes, as only he knew how. A headscissors move sent Mitsuharu reeling, and Hamada scaled the second rope to connect with his Tornado DDT. Misawa tossed his opponent gut first into the mat off of it, and quickly connected with a spin kick right to Hamada’s midsection. As the veteran junior tried to collect himself, the junior junior locked in a double underhook, and planted his opponent with a Tiger Bomb. After 12 minutes of world class junior heavyweight action, the green warrior collected another three points in the Pacific League.
#2: Genichiro Tenryu vs Kenta Kobashi
Second match of the bout was a completely different beast compared to the first one. This was, by all means, a struggle of the heavyweights. Kenta was aware that his kicking strategy did not work as planned the previous time, and he wasn’t going to try it again, especially against a veteran like Tenryu. But Kobashi did not dare venture into the amateur wrestling tactics neither, so he surprised everyone, the veteran included, when he started throwing haymakers. Lefts and rights, jabs and hooks flew across the body and face of Genichiro, as he tried to wave off the young man’s attacks.
He was not successful for the majority of the match, until a fatal mistake occurred: Kobashi went for his lariat, and Tenryu ducked, locking in a waistlock, and dumping the opponent on his head with a brutal German suplex. He picked Kenta up by his head, looking to hit the Gamengiri: the eyes of Kobashi were glazed over, but his mouth screamed at the veteran, full of fighting spirit. A combination of punches sent Tenryu reeling once more, sending him to the mat. Kenta pointed upwards; a moonsault was coming. He scailed the buckles, swung his hips, with victory so close he could almost taste it.
But he found nothing but cold, unforgiving ring mat. As he tried to get up, Genichiro rolled him up with a small package, and the veteran earned another victory in the League.
#3: Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue
“I can’t believe he made it, Baba-san”, Wakabayashi remarked, as Toshiaki Kawada entered the ring, his jaw still taped up after the last show, following the stiff big boot from Giant Baba himself.
“I did not doubt he’d make it”, the big boss replied, “young Toshiaki is a tough man. Looking forward to seeing what he can do against Taue tonight.”
“With all due respect, Baba-san”, Wakabayashi continued, “there are those who say Toshiaki is burdened with a heavy handicap, caused by a particularly stiff kick of yours, sir. Some even say you owe young Kawada an apology.”
Baba smirked at his commentator colleague: “While I agree it’s a shame he got his teeth kicked out, that is the nature of this business. Puroresu is not ballet, after all. Wishing Kawada the best in this match, Akira as well, but if they couldn’t take it, they wouldn’t be out here”.
Meanwhile in the ring, Toshiaki glanced at the commentary table, almost as if he could hear Baba’s comments. He then locked eyes with Taue, almost as if aggreing with Baba’s comments; or perhaps being aware that his job as a wrestler is not to trade words with your superiors, but to fight between the ropes.
On this night, Toshiaki brought his A-game to Taue. His kicks were vicious, his counters well timed, his movement flawless. Almost as if he fought with extra emotion, extra anger. Some would say that perhaps Kawada was angry at Baba, and looked to express his anger on Akira Taue himself; the two did look very similar after all.
But this emotion ultimately worked against Kawada: after a flurry of kicks, he had his physically larger opponent in place for the powerbomb. But before delivering it, he once more glanced at Baba, locking eyes with the titanic booker.
Wakabayashi pointed this out, and Baba brushed the remark off by saying Kawada should rather pay attention to his opponent. This statement proved to be true, as Taue performed a double leg takedown, and immediately went for a jacknife cover. Just like that, even after a dominating performance, Kawada lost another 3 points to the Dynamic One, Akira Taue.
#4: Satoru Sayama vs Riki Choshu
Riki Choshu entered the ring with the raucous crowd booing him. His expression was surprisingly stoic, as Sayama ran circles around him, bouncing off the ropes, landing beautiful kicks, until he sent Choshu out of the ring with a pair of headscissors. He began clapping his hands to prepare the crowd for his beautiful suicide dive. Sayama ran the ropes, bounced off of them and extended his hands, soaring through the second and third rope like a magnificent bird of prey, about to snatch its next unaware and helpless meal… but the only thing this high-flying predator ate was the steel guardrail.
Riki threw his junior opponent in the ring, performed the windmill arm gesture, and as he bounced off the ropes, he sent Sayama's body corkscrewing like a ragdoll from the impact of his vicious Lariat. Riki turned his luck around from the previous show, now scoring a fall and the three points in the Pacific League.
The crowd continued booing the winner, but his expression remained stoic. As he prepared to leave the ring, he noticed Sayama getting up. The winner stopped for a second, measured his opponent; but ultimately did nothing. Almost with a face of disgust, as if his opponent was beneath him in every level, he retired from the ringside. The fans still booed the winner.
#5: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Giant Baba
The penultimate match left the crowd with a bit of a sour taste in their mouth, as the villain left with the win. The mood in the arena however, began to shift, as the main event was announced: two good guys, two fan faves, two aces of their respective eras were introduced to the ring. In the red corner, Jumbo Tsuruta, in the blue one, the man himself, Giant Baba. This contest was sure to be a doozie, and sure to leave the fans happy, regardless of the outcome. Surely.
In a contest filled with respective and overall fair wrestling, the two aces exchanged classic wrestling holds. With every transition, and every counter, the pace of the bout picked up, and the noise of the fans grew accordingly. As Baba whipped Tsuruta off the ropes, he connected with a massive chop across the chest, sending Jumbo down, and the fans sent out a noticeable ooh.
Fans knew that the match was now in its second half; the aces are done wrestling, now the strikes arrive. Chops from Baba, elbows from Tsuruta, a bodyslam attempt by Baba, then countered with a belly to back suplex attempt from Jumbo, which the owner countered with his vintage Russian legsweep. As he prepared a running neckbreaker drop from the corner, the giant was met with a High knee from Tsuruta. The balance of the match shifted, as the crowd felt the torch being passed from the ace of the past, to the ace of the future. “OH! OH! OH!”, Tsuruta cried, preparing for his devastating lariat. In this moment of generational importance, the crowd did not look to the center of the ring; they looked at the ringside.
A hooded figure stood at the apron. A confused Tsuruta stared at it, soon joined by an angry Baba. As the two aces threw right hands at the mysterious man, he grabbed their heads and knocked them together. Chair shot sounds soon echoed around the arena, as the man in the hood teed off on both competitors, rendering them absolutely helpless. So much so, that the entirety of the locker room fled to the ring to save them. They were able to stop the onslaught, but not to catch the perp.
As the man exited through the raucous crowd, the situation in the ring began to settle down. Neither Baba nor Tsuruta were seriously injured, but the damage had been done: fans didn't get to see a conclusive finish, and both Tsuruta and Baba earned only a single point in this contest, as the referee Joe Higuchi was forced to proclaim this match a no contest. The boys of the locker room surrounded the two fighers. The aces were shielded, the hierarchy of All Japan was protected, the tradition and the system unscathed. But there stood, in the middle of the crowd, up in the nosebleeds, the Man in the Hood. The one who will see it all destroyed.
Pacific League, Night 2 results:
Mitsuharu Misawa def Gran Hamada (12:34)
Genichiro Tenryu def Kenta Kobashi (13:56)
Akira Taue def Toshiaki Kawada (15:03)
Riki Choshu def Satoru Sayama (06:36)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Giant Baba - no contest (16:45)
PWF League points:
Wrestler: Points:
Genichiro Tenryu 6
Mitsuharu Misawa 6
Giant Baba 4
Jumbo Tsuruta 4
Akira Taue 3
Riki Choshu 3
Satoru Sayama 3
Gran Hamada 0
Kenta Kobashi 0
Toshiaki Kawada 0
Osaka, Japan.
-------------------------------
They say once you hear it, you can’t get enough of it. The stomping of the feet. The clapping of the hands. The cheers, the jeers, the whole chaos of it. As the green strobe light flew over the eight thousand packed, followed by the electric guitar riff, he knew it all, better than anyone.
Clad in a shining silver robe, he made his way down the ramp, through the raucous crowd which screamed the three continent-famous syllables: “MI-SA-WA! MI-SA-WA!”. As the Emerald Wonder entered the ring and took of his robe, he was adorned in the green and white streamers, as his savvy opponent, the veteran Gran Hamada, looked on in focus. The bell rang, and “here we go!”, Wakabayashi cried.
#1: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Gran Hamada
This battle of the junior heavyweights started off rather flashy; Hamada was quick to send Misawa flying across the ring with his mexican style armdrags, and almost connected with a standing dropkick, if it wasn’t for Mitsuharu evading it. The younger opponent had slown down the flow of the match, and mostly used grounded maneuvers: the headlocks, the armbars, an occasional snapmare or a hip toss. He wasn’t having any of that lucha… lucha thing.
Misawa was however forced to speed it up, as Hamada relentlessly bounced off the ropes, as only he knew how. A headscissors move sent Mitsuharu reeling, and Hamada scaled the second rope to connect with his Tornado DDT. Misawa tossed his opponent gut first into the mat off of it, and quickly connected with a spin kick right to Hamada’s midsection. As the veteran junior tried to collect himself, the junior junior locked in a double underhook, and planted his opponent with a Tiger Bomb. After 12 minutes of world class junior heavyweight action, the green warrior collected another three points in the Pacific League.
#2: Genichiro Tenryu vs Kenta Kobashi
Second match of the bout was a completely different beast compared to the first one. This was, by all means, a struggle of the heavyweights. Kenta was aware that his kicking strategy did not work as planned the previous time, and he wasn’t going to try it again, especially against a veteran like Tenryu. But Kobashi did not dare venture into the amateur wrestling tactics neither, so he surprised everyone, the veteran included, when he started throwing haymakers. Lefts and rights, jabs and hooks flew across the body and face of Genichiro, as he tried to wave off the young man’s attacks.
He was not successful for the majority of the match, until a fatal mistake occurred: Kobashi went for his lariat, and Tenryu ducked, locking in a waistlock, and dumping the opponent on his head with a brutal German suplex. He picked Kenta up by his head, looking to hit the Gamengiri: the eyes of Kobashi were glazed over, but his mouth screamed at the veteran, full of fighting spirit. A combination of punches sent Tenryu reeling once more, sending him to the mat. Kenta pointed upwards; a moonsault was coming. He scailed the buckles, swung his hips, with victory so close he could almost taste it.
But he found nothing but cold, unforgiving ring mat. As he tried to get up, Genichiro rolled him up with a small package, and the veteran earned another victory in the League.
#3: Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue
“I can’t believe he made it, Baba-san”, Wakabayashi remarked, as Toshiaki Kawada entered the ring, his jaw still taped up after the last show, following the stiff big boot from Giant Baba himself.
“I did not doubt he’d make it”, the big boss replied, “young Toshiaki is a tough man. Looking forward to seeing what he can do against Taue tonight.”
“With all due respect, Baba-san”, Wakabayashi continued, “there are those who say Toshiaki is burdened with a heavy handicap, caused by a particularly stiff kick of yours, sir. Some even say you owe young Kawada an apology.”
Baba smirked at his commentator colleague: “While I agree it’s a shame he got his teeth kicked out, that is the nature of this business. Puroresu is not ballet, after all. Wishing Kawada the best in this match, Akira as well, but if they couldn’t take it, they wouldn’t be out here”.
Meanwhile in the ring, Toshiaki glanced at the commentary table, almost as if he could hear Baba’s comments. He then locked eyes with Taue, almost as if aggreing with Baba’s comments; or perhaps being aware that his job as a wrestler is not to trade words with your superiors, but to fight between the ropes.
On this night, Toshiaki brought his A-game to Taue. His kicks were vicious, his counters well timed, his movement flawless. Almost as if he fought with extra emotion, extra anger. Some would say that perhaps Kawada was angry at Baba, and looked to express his anger on Akira Taue himself; the two did look very similar after all.
But this emotion ultimately worked against Kawada: after a flurry of kicks, he had his physically larger opponent in place for the powerbomb. But before delivering it, he once more glanced at Baba, locking eyes with the titanic booker.
Wakabayashi pointed this out, and Baba brushed the remark off by saying Kawada should rather pay attention to his opponent. This statement proved to be true, as Taue performed a double leg takedown, and immediately went for a jacknife cover. Just like that, even after a dominating performance, Kawada lost another 3 points to the Dynamic One, Akira Taue.
#4: Satoru Sayama vs Riki Choshu
Riki Choshu entered the ring with the raucous crowd booing him. His expression was surprisingly stoic, as Sayama ran circles around him, bouncing off the ropes, landing beautiful kicks, until he sent Choshu out of the ring with a pair of headscissors. He began clapping his hands to prepare the crowd for his beautiful suicide dive. Sayama ran the ropes, bounced off of them and extended his hands, soaring through the second and third rope like a magnificent bird of prey, about to snatch its next unaware and helpless meal… but the only thing this high-flying predator ate was the steel guardrail.
Riki threw his junior opponent in the ring, performed the windmill arm gesture, and as he bounced off the ropes, he sent Sayama's body corkscrewing like a ragdoll from the impact of his vicious Lariat. Riki turned his luck around from the previous show, now scoring a fall and the three points in the Pacific League.
The crowd continued booing the winner, but his expression remained stoic. As he prepared to leave the ring, he noticed Sayama getting up. The winner stopped for a second, measured his opponent; but ultimately did nothing. Almost with a face of disgust, as if his opponent was beneath him in every level, he retired from the ringside. The fans still booed the winner.
#5: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Giant Baba
The penultimate match left the crowd with a bit of a sour taste in their mouth, as the villain left with the win. The mood in the arena however, began to shift, as the main event was announced: two good guys, two fan faves, two aces of their respective eras were introduced to the ring. In the red corner, Jumbo Tsuruta, in the blue one, the man himself, Giant Baba. This contest was sure to be a doozie, and sure to leave the fans happy, regardless of the outcome. Surely.
In a contest filled with respective and overall fair wrestling, the two aces exchanged classic wrestling holds. With every transition, and every counter, the pace of the bout picked up, and the noise of the fans grew accordingly. As Baba whipped Tsuruta off the ropes, he connected with a massive chop across the chest, sending Jumbo down, and the fans sent out a noticeable ooh.
Fans knew that the match was now in its second half; the aces are done wrestling, now the strikes arrive. Chops from Baba, elbows from Tsuruta, a bodyslam attempt by Baba, then countered with a belly to back suplex attempt from Jumbo, which the owner countered with his vintage Russian legsweep. As he prepared a running neckbreaker drop from the corner, the giant was met with a High knee from Tsuruta. The balance of the match shifted, as the crowd felt the torch being passed from the ace of the past, to the ace of the future. “OH! OH! OH!”, Tsuruta cried, preparing for his devastating lariat. In this moment of generational importance, the crowd did not look to the center of the ring; they looked at the ringside.
A hooded figure stood at the apron. A confused Tsuruta stared at it, soon joined by an angry Baba. As the two aces threw right hands at the mysterious man, he grabbed their heads and knocked them together. Chair shot sounds soon echoed around the arena, as the man in the hood teed off on both competitors, rendering them absolutely helpless. So much so, that the entirety of the locker room fled to the ring to save them. They were able to stop the onslaught, but not to catch the perp.
As the man exited through the raucous crowd, the situation in the ring began to settle down. Neither Baba nor Tsuruta were seriously injured, but the damage had been done: fans didn't get to see a conclusive finish, and both Tsuruta and Baba earned only a single point in this contest, as the referee Joe Higuchi was forced to proclaim this match a no contest. The boys of the locker room surrounded the two fighers. The aces were shielded, the hierarchy of All Japan was protected, the tradition and the system unscathed. But there stood, in the middle of the crowd, up in the nosebleeds, the Man in the Hood. The one who will see it all destroyed.
Pacific League, Night 2 results:
Mitsuharu Misawa def Gran Hamada (12:34)
Genichiro Tenryu def Kenta Kobashi (13:56)
Akira Taue def Toshiaki Kawada (15:03)
Riki Choshu def Satoru Sayama (06:36)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Giant Baba - no contest (16:45)
PWF League points:
Wrestler: Points:
Genichiro Tenryu 6
Mitsuharu Misawa 6
Giant Baba 4
Jumbo Tsuruta 4
Akira Taue 3
Riki Choshu 3
Satoru Sayama 3
Gran Hamada 0
Kenta Kobashi 0
Toshiaki Kawada 0
