Post by Jeff L. on Oct 3, 2024 16:34:13 GMT -5
World Memorial Hall in Kobe.
Hyogo Prefecture
Japan.
--------------------
“Ladies and gentlemen, good evening to you all!”, the AJPW’s play-by-play commentator, Kenji Wakabayashi, welcomed the fans watching on small screens. “We welcome you to our third night of the Pacific League. As we are greet you from Kobe’s Memorial Hall, with 75 hundred fans in attendance, our first match is already under way!”
#1: Satoru Sayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa
This junior heavyweight curtain jerker opened up with a classic wrestling hold exchange: headlocks into spinning toe holds, armbars which sent both men flying across the ring, and early rollups and pinning predicaments promised that this match was gonna be a doozy. However, as Sayama jumped off the turnbuckles, he got his head clocked with a vicious elbow by Misawa; Sayama was out of it, and soon blood started pouring out his nose, an unusual sight in All Japan.
However, he persevered, and the match was continued. Misawa had slown the pace drastically; he knew that he hit Sayama with an absolute haymaker, and had something very special in those elbow strikes. After nearly 20 minutes of action, Satoru hit Mitsuharu with a huge dropkick, and started to mount his comeback. Dropkicks sent his opponent down, and he hit a brainbuster. A kickout at two, and Sayama prepared for a major running manouever; he ran the ropes, about to hit Misawa. But the green warrior ducked the attempt, and as Sayama bounced off the ropes chest first, he was clocked by another haymaker elbow to the back off the head. Misawa was once more the victor, almost expectedly.
Sayama however surprised the crowd after the bout; approaching Misawa with his right hand clenched, he stared the winner down, exchanged a few words with him, and offered his handshake. Misawa accepted, and the crowd read off the lips of Satoru: “If you ever need any help, I am here for you.”
#2: Genichiro Tenryu vs Akira Taue
The bout of the big guns started off with a standard lock-up, but it really did not take long for this one to devolve into a chopfest. Both men rained down blistering slaps to each other’s chests, with the veteran getting the better off his opponent. As Tenryu was going for a German suplex, Taue performed a standing switch, sent his opponent into the ropes, and connected with an athletic dropkick.
The second third of the match saw the Dynamic One dominating his opponent; slams, suplexes, and chops set the crowd cheering and roaring. Taue then charged out of the corner to hit his Dynamic Boot, but the raucous crowd became even more unglued as Genichiro jumped up in the air, and connected with a concussion-inducing Gamengiri. A confident veteran covered his younger opponent for a three count… but alas, did not score the fall.
Akira Taue pushed his opponent off of himself; clenching both fists, with a single drop of blood coming out of his nose. His eyes - glazed over, his knees - wobbly, his stance - staggered; but his spirit? Ever defiant, as he blocked an elbow from Tenryu, and started hammering his opponent with slaps: overhead, knife-edge, open handed, over the chest, to the face, and at the back of the head, the young man was unrelenting. But Genichiro stood his ground, and waited for an opening. A single elbow threw Taue to his knees, and a quick powerbomb ensued. Instantly going for the cover, Genichiro Tenryu scored another win. But damn it if it wasn’t the hardest earned one yet!
#3: Giant Baba vs Gran Hamada
The crowd was already in a fever pitch following the previous match, and they became even more elated when Soul of the Champion started playing. The owner, the booker, the big boss himself, Giant Baba, was making his way down the aisle. Already in the ring waiting was one Gran Hamada.
Baba was not his usual self, still vividly angry from the last show’s attack. The usual joyful, gentle giant was replaced with this menacing, 6’10’’ tall tower of a man, ready to explode at any given moment. Hamada tried to keep his distance, launching dropkicks from afar, and evading the terrifying titan.
But after going for a crossbody, Baba caught the junior heavyweight, and slammed him hard on the mat. He continued to punish the smaller opponent with slams, suplexes, and vicious nerve holds. The atmosphere of joy and happiness in the arena was soon replaced by a grim, deafening silence. Baba caught on to this, and lifted his head up.
“Look at Baba’s face!”, Wakabayashi stated, “I understand his anger, but it seems that he noticed how the people don’t like this version of cruel Baba! And his nerve hold is a bit more loose now, almost as if he’s trying to bring the fans to excitement again, to bring happiness back to the – and Hamada escapes the loose nerve hold! Flying headscissors send Giant Baba to the floor!”
The high flyer did not hesitate, as he ran the ropes and delivered an enormous suicide dive to the behemoth. Baba fell on one knee, but did not go down. Hamada was nervous. Yet he knew he couldn’t take the giant down in a hand to hand combat. He got inside the ring, and ran the ropes one more, propelling himself headfirst into the goliath. The big man was now down, and the count was 12. Desperately trying to kick him down, Hamada knew the count out was his only option to score a win. Alas, Baba stood up, shrugging off the smaller opponent, he reached the ropes, and tried to pull himself in… but he could not move his left leg.
As he looked down, he noticed Hamada wrapped around the giant leg of Baba, locking in a kneebar. Baba was now angry, as the ref Joe Higuchi neared a 17 count. Desperately trying to swat off the junior heavyweight, he was only successful when he lifted his entire leg off the floor, and slammed Hamada head first into the concrete floor. Baba then rolled inside the ring.
The bell rang, and Higuchi gave the signal to the ring announcer, Ryu Nakata, who screamed: “After 8 minutes, 37 seconds, this match has been declared – a no contest, due to the double countout!”
Giant Baba was besides himself! It is one thing that Hamada tried to get a cheap countout win, but to willingly cause the double countout, and to hurt Baba’s League score like this? This move must have been, Baba thought, and many agreed, a deliberate, thwarting action.
#4: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada
As the previous bout left the crowd confused, this night needed an absolute superstar to raise the atmosphere once more. And the people’s voices erupted once they heard Jumbo Tsuruta making his entrance. His opponent on this night, young Toshiaki Kawada.
This was a very good match in which Kawada wrestled a big man once more, and brought his absolute A-game. He survived a High knee, a short arm Lariat, even a Backdrop. Tsuruta went for his ultimate weapon, a powerbomb, but Kawada elbowed him as he was being picked up. Toshiaki landed on his feet, and wrecked Jumbo with a Gamengiri. Tsuruta stumbled out of the ring. Kawada followed, and the two started brawling on the ringside. Jumbo overpowered and powerbombed Kawada, right on the unforgiving concrete.
As Tsuruta tried to get in the ring, he was suddenly struck down with an unexpected chairshot, as a dark figure stood over his unconscious body: it was the Man in the Hood once more, and he disappeared from the ringside area as quick as he appeared! At that point, a limp body started moving on the concrete. Higuchi counted to 15… 16… the barely conscious competitor was on all fours, crawling and dragging himself to the apron… 18… he desperately grabbed the bottom rope… 19… and he tried to pull himself by the rope, almost unconscious, completely by instinct… Higuchi finally screamed the number 20… as the final bell rang at last.
Joe Higuchi then raised the hand of young Toshiaki Kawada. His expression was a mix of blunt trauma, confusion, and honest happiness. He finally did it! He got those three points! But the crowd, although excited for Kawada beating the count, now slowly started to boo. They were glad he won; it's the how he won that they had a problem with.
#5: Kenta Kobashi vs Riki Choshu
Before the main event could even begin, Kobashi grabbed a mic; a look of angry disdain, almost disgust, donned his face. He screamed at Choshu: “You were under that Hood, weren’t you?!”, he yelled, “you’re the one screwing other fighters over, and fixing the points on the table so you’d come out on top, huh?!”.
Instead of answering, Choshu gave Kenta a deep look, before smirking at his angered opponent. It was this look that triggered Kobashi: he threw down the mic, and started clobbering Choshu; kicks, punches, elbows, everything all at once came raining down on Choshu. Riki was reeling, and Kobashi hit a flying shoulder, two DDTs, and then climbed the top rope. As he was about to come down, he looked at the crowd… and cought a glimpse of a black hood, peeking through the door from backstage to the arena. But that’s… but he’s… before he could react, Kobashi got perched on the top rope. Choshu hit a super back drop. And went in for the cover.
But Kenta kicked out! He screamed at Choshu: “You traitor! You thief!”, but before he could get to his feet, Choshu hit a vicious northern lariat, pinning an unconscious Kenta.
Crowd then showered Choshu with boos. He looked down, before looking at the hard camera, and the feed instantly switched over to the ringside camera. Choshu then smirked, glanced at the backstage door… but the Man in the Hood was no longer there. The backstage door closed, and the show faded to black.
Pacific League, Night 3 results:
Mitsuharu Misawa def. Satoru Sayama (19:35)
Genichiro Tenryu def. Akira Taue (16:47)
Giant Baba vs. Gran Hamada ended in a double countout (08:37)
Toshiaki Kawada def. Jumbo Tsuruta (13:22)
Riki Choshu def. Kenta Kobashi (07:12)
Pacific League points:
Wrestler: Points:
Genichiro Tenryu 9
Mitsuharu Misawa 9
Riki Choshu 6
Giant Baba 5
Jumbo Tsuruta 4
Akira Taue 3
Satoru Sayama 3
Toshiaki Kawada 3
Gran Hamada 1
Kenta Kobashi 0
Hyogo Prefecture
Japan.
--------------------
“Ladies and gentlemen, good evening to you all!”, the AJPW’s play-by-play commentator, Kenji Wakabayashi, welcomed the fans watching on small screens. “We welcome you to our third night of the Pacific League. As we are greet you from Kobe’s Memorial Hall, with 75 hundred fans in attendance, our first match is already under way!”
#1: Satoru Sayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa
This junior heavyweight curtain jerker opened up with a classic wrestling hold exchange: headlocks into spinning toe holds, armbars which sent both men flying across the ring, and early rollups and pinning predicaments promised that this match was gonna be a doozy. However, as Sayama jumped off the turnbuckles, he got his head clocked with a vicious elbow by Misawa; Sayama was out of it, and soon blood started pouring out his nose, an unusual sight in All Japan.
However, he persevered, and the match was continued. Misawa had slown the pace drastically; he knew that he hit Sayama with an absolute haymaker, and had something very special in those elbow strikes. After nearly 20 minutes of action, Satoru hit Mitsuharu with a huge dropkick, and started to mount his comeback. Dropkicks sent his opponent down, and he hit a brainbuster. A kickout at two, and Sayama prepared for a major running manouever; he ran the ropes, about to hit Misawa. But the green warrior ducked the attempt, and as Sayama bounced off the ropes chest first, he was clocked by another haymaker elbow to the back off the head. Misawa was once more the victor, almost expectedly.
Sayama however surprised the crowd after the bout; approaching Misawa with his right hand clenched, he stared the winner down, exchanged a few words with him, and offered his handshake. Misawa accepted, and the crowd read off the lips of Satoru: “If you ever need any help, I am here for you.”
#2: Genichiro Tenryu vs Akira Taue
The bout of the big guns started off with a standard lock-up, but it really did not take long for this one to devolve into a chopfest. Both men rained down blistering slaps to each other’s chests, with the veteran getting the better off his opponent. As Tenryu was going for a German suplex, Taue performed a standing switch, sent his opponent into the ropes, and connected with an athletic dropkick.
The second third of the match saw the Dynamic One dominating his opponent; slams, suplexes, and chops set the crowd cheering and roaring. Taue then charged out of the corner to hit his Dynamic Boot, but the raucous crowd became even more unglued as Genichiro jumped up in the air, and connected with a concussion-inducing Gamengiri. A confident veteran covered his younger opponent for a three count… but alas, did not score the fall.
Akira Taue pushed his opponent off of himself; clenching both fists, with a single drop of blood coming out of his nose. His eyes - glazed over, his knees - wobbly, his stance - staggered; but his spirit? Ever defiant, as he blocked an elbow from Tenryu, and started hammering his opponent with slaps: overhead, knife-edge, open handed, over the chest, to the face, and at the back of the head, the young man was unrelenting. But Genichiro stood his ground, and waited for an opening. A single elbow threw Taue to his knees, and a quick powerbomb ensued. Instantly going for the cover, Genichiro Tenryu scored another win. But damn it if it wasn’t the hardest earned one yet!
#3: Giant Baba vs Gran Hamada
The crowd was already in a fever pitch following the previous match, and they became even more elated when Soul of the Champion started playing. The owner, the booker, the big boss himself, Giant Baba, was making his way down the aisle. Already in the ring waiting was one Gran Hamada.
Baba was not his usual self, still vividly angry from the last show’s attack. The usual joyful, gentle giant was replaced with this menacing, 6’10’’ tall tower of a man, ready to explode at any given moment. Hamada tried to keep his distance, launching dropkicks from afar, and evading the terrifying titan.
But after going for a crossbody, Baba caught the junior heavyweight, and slammed him hard on the mat. He continued to punish the smaller opponent with slams, suplexes, and vicious nerve holds. The atmosphere of joy and happiness in the arena was soon replaced by a grim, deafening silence. Baba caught on to this, and lifted his head up.
“Look at Baba’s face!”, Wakabayashi stated, “I understand his anger, but it seems that he noticed how the people don’t like this version of cruel Baba! And his nerve hold is a bit more loose now, almost as if he’s trying to bring the fans to excitement again, to bring happiness back to the – and Hamada escapes the loose nerve hold! Flying headscissors send Giant Baba to the floor!”
The high flyer did not hesitate, as he ran the ropes and delivered an enormous suicide dive to the behemoth. Baba fell on one knee, but did not go down. Hamada was nervous. Yet he knew he couldn’t take the giant down in a hand to hand combat. He got inside the ring, and ran the ropes one more, propelling himself headfirst into the goliath. The big man was now down, and the count was 12. Desperately trying to kick him down, Hamada knew the count out was his only option to score a win. Alas, Baba stood up, shrugging off the smaller opponent, he reached the ropes, and tried to pull himself in… but he could not move his left leg.
As he looked down, he noticed Hamada wrapped around the giant leg of Baba, locking in a kneebar. Baba was now angry, as the ref Joe Higuchi neared a 17 count. Desperately trying to swat off the junior heavyweight, he was only successful when he lifted his entire leg off the floor, and slammed Hamada head first into the concrete floor. Baba then rolled inside the ring.
The bell rang, and Higuchi gave the signal to the ring announcer, Ryu Nakata, who screamed: “After 8 minutes, 37 seconds, this match has been declared – a no contest, due to the double countout!”
Giant Baba was besides himself! It is one thing that Hamada tried to get a cheap countout win, but to willingly cause the double countout, and to hurt Baba’s League score like this? This move must have been, Baba thought, and many agreed, a deliberate, thwarting action.
#4: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada
As the previous bout left the crowd confused, this night needed an absolute superstar to raise the atmosphere once more. And the people’s voices erupted once they heard Jumbo Tsuruta making his entrance. His opponent on this night, young Toshiaki Kawada.
This was a very good match in which Kawada wrestled a big man once more, and brought his absolute A-game. He survived a High knee, a short arm Lariat, even a Backdrop. Tsuruta went for his ultimate weapon, a powerbomb, but Kawada elbowed him as he was being picked up. Toshiaki landed on his feet, and wrecked Jumbo with a Gamengiri. Tsuruta stumbled out of the ring. Kawada followed, and the two started brawling on the ringside. Jumbo overpowered and powerbombed Kawada, right on the unforgiving concrete.
As Tsuruta tried to get in the ring, he was suddenly struck down with an unexpected chairshot, as a dark figure stood over his unconscious body: it was the Man in the Hood once more, and he disappeared from the ringside area as quick as he appeared! At that point, a limp body started moving on the concrete. Higuchi counted to 15… 16… the barely conscious competitor was on all fours, crawling and dragging himself to the apron… 18… he desperately grabbed the bottom rope… 19… and he tried to pull himself by the rope, almost unconscious, completely by instinct… Higuchi finally screamed the number 20… as the final bell rang at last.
Joe Higuchi then raised the hand of young Toshiaki Kawada. His expression was a mix of blunt trauma, confusion, and honest happiness. He finally did it! He got those three points! But the crowd, although excited for Kawada beating the count, now slowly started to boo. They were glad he won; it's the how he won that they had a problem with.
#5: Kenta Kobashi vs Riki Choshu
Before the main event could even begin, Kobashi grabbed a mic; a look of angry disdain, almost disgust, donned his face. He screamed at Choshu: “You were under that Hood, weren’t you?!”, he yelled, “you’re the one screwing other fighters over, and fixing the points on the table so you’d come out on top, huh?!”.
Instead of answering, Choshu gave Kenta a deep look, before smirking at his angered opponent. It was this look that triggered Kobashi: he threw down the mic, and started clobbering Choshu; kicks, punches, elbows, everything all at once came raining down on Choshu. Riki was reeling, and Kobashi hit a flying shoulder, two DDTs, and then climbed the top rope. As he was about to come down, he looked at the crowd… and cought a glimpse of a black hood, peeking through the door from backstage to the arena. But that’s… but he’s… before he could react, Kobashi got perched on the top rope. Choshu hit a super back drop. And went in for the cover.
But Kenta kicked out! He screamed at Choshu: “You traitor! You thief!”, but before he could get to his feet, Choshu hit a vicious northern lariat, pinning an unconscious Kenta.
Crowd then showered Choshu with boos. He looked down, before looking at the hard camera, and the feed instantly switched over to the ringside camera. Choshu then smirked, glanced at the backstage door… but the Man in the Hood was no longer there. The backstage door closed, and the show faded to black.
Pacific League, Night 3 results:
Mitsuharu Misawa def. Satoru Sayama (19:35)
Genichiro Tenryu def. Akira Taue (16:47)
Giant Baba vs. Gran Hamada ended in a double countout (08:37)
Toshiaki Kawada def. Jumbo Tsuruta (13:22)
Riki Choshu def. Kenta Kobashi (07:12)
Pacific League points:
Wrestler: Points:
Genichiro Tenryu 9
Mitsuharu Misawa 9
Riki Choshu 6
Giant Baba 5
Jumbo Tsuruta 4
Akira Taue 3
Satoru Sayama 3
Toshiaki Kawada 3
Gran Hamada 1
Kenta Kobashi 0
