Iron Japan Wrestling: Climb The Iron Mountain

[Derek B]

Source: ProWrestlingHits.com

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New promotion opens in Japan… Iron Japan Wrestling
by Robert Greene
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Hello there puro fans!

Following on from my review of the often bizarre politics and events in Japan that tried to follow the timeline of the demise of INSPIRE, the change of ownership of BHOTWG and the turbulent times suffered by PGHW there is actually some good news going down in Japan today! Yay!

A man by the name of Onishi Takuma has opened up a new promotion called Iron Japan Wrestling. For those of you not familiar with his work, I’m not surprised! At the age of 42 he has had a long career but has never really amounted to much partly because his once successful gimmick actually hurt him in the long run. Takuma joined floundering promotion GCG in his youth and gained some moderate success with his “Hands of Stone” gimmick, utilising brutal chops and devastating palm strikes to weaken his opponents. However they had to release him due to budget cuts and he floundered on the relatively barren indy scene for a while before resurfacing in PGHW when they were formed in 1996. A two year spell there saw him perform fairly well but it had was clear that his once solid technical skills were now weak due to his hands taking so much punishment from his chops that he had lost mobility in them. He was then released from PGHW and until now has spent the rest of his career touring small indy promotions with the gimmick, which remains fairly popular.

Which brings us to today! Takuma has formed Iron Japan Wrestling and his press release (which I had to have translated for me since I’m not fluent in the language yet) has gone into a lot of detail about what he hopes to achieve with the promotion. The long and short of it is quite simple though, so I’ve paraphrased the translation for you guys to digest.

IRON JAPAN WRESTLING

Iron Japan Wrestling is about honour, fighting spirit and the desire to be the best. To reach the top of IJW you must prove that you have skill, passion and heart. You must show that you are a better wrestler than everyone else and be willing to prove it every time you compete. Iron Japan Wrestling has therefore implemented the following rules and divisions in order to prove yourself.

CLIMBING THE IRON MOUNTAIN

At the top of The Iron Mountain is the IJW World Heavyweight Champion, the man who has proven themselves to be the most worthy of being champion. Sitting below this man are his three top challengers, each ready to prove themselves in battle. Each of these three men have gotten to where they are by defeating those below them and proving themselves worthy. The champion must accept challenges from these men as they have climbed the mountain and earned their place as challengers.

Below the three challengers lies everyone else, slowly ascending towards the summit of the Iron Mountain, trying to prove themselves to be worthy challengers. Only by winning many matches can they challenge one of the three challengers for their spot near the top of the mountain, with victory seeing them replace the challenger.

To climb the mountain you must defeat whoever stands in your path. The higher you climb the harder it becomes to move any higher, and the more people there will be behind you looking to bring you back down. A win moves you up the mountain one step, a defeat sets you back one step. Only when you have reached the top three steps can you challenge for the summit, and only wins against an appropriately strong opponent will see you step forward.

THE MOUNTAIN RANGE

There are many mountains around the Iron Mountain, each with a different path to the top. Once the path to the summit of the Iron Mountain has been walked and a champion has been crowned then the lesser mountains will be scaled also. The mountains are:

The Twin Peaked Mountain: Tag Team
The Volcano: Junior Heavyweight
The Queen’s Mountain: Womens

Only one mountain can be climbed at any time, though walking a path already walked is much easier than walking a new path. If one chooses to make a new climb, they must leave the summit and hope to return one day.

New stars fall from the heavens all the time… some make an impact on the mountain and unsettle those already there, while others miss and fall to earth, needing to start their climb all the way from the bottom.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The Iron Man Tournament

Open to all men who wish to compete, The Iron Man Tournament will see all who wish to reach the summit of the Iron Mountain compete in a single elimination tournament, with the winner receiving a pass to challenge the IJW World Heavyweight champion, regardless of contendership status. The final eight men will face off in one night, with as many events as required being held prior to this in order to see who is worthy of being in the final eight. Only the champion may not enter, for he awaits the winner in an ultimate battle!

The Blind Faith Tournament

It is said that trust must be earned, the same applies to respect and to success. The Blind Faith Tournament draws together tha fates of everyone, pairing them together in a tag team tournament like no other. Friends and foes alike will team up to quest for glory, with the final four pairings competing in the finals. One team will triumph over all others, culminating in a final battle between those individuals for the right to challenge for the IJW World Heavyweight championship. Trust leads to triumph, triumph leads to glory and glory leads to iron.

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Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountain, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

So yeah… Japanese is such a wonderful language. I’ve broken it down into some pretty simple ideas and concepts, for those who might have had some trouble keeping up with all the fancy words and imperfect translation.

- IJW has a few divisions: A Heavyweight (technically openweight really but it’s Japan and size matters) division, a Junior Heavyweight division, a Tag Team division and a Women’s division. They are only starting with the Heavyweight division though, with more to come later, presumably once they’ve built up a reputation and established their main title.
- Only the top 3 guys in each division can challenge for the belt and you can only be in one division at once. To become one of the top 3 challengers you have to beat one of them… and everything below that is a big ladder ranking system. Beat someone close to you to move up… lose and you move down. Simple really. I think the tag division may operate differently though, since it’d be harsh to have dedicated tag teams unable to compete elsewhere. I also think new guys get to challenge someone for a spot on the roster too, jumping ahead of them in the rankings if they win and heading to the bottom if the lose.
- They have a couple of special tournaments too. They’re probably annual ones, with the Iron Man being a straight singles tournament for a Heavyweight title shot and the Blind Faith Tournament being a Lethal Lottery tag team style tournament with the winning team facing each other for a shot at the Heavyweight title. That could be fun.

Anyways, that’s been my latest update on the Japanese wrestling scene. As ever, I’ve been Robert Greene and I have been your host on this most confusing of topics. Thanks for reading!

- Robert Greene

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+GCG on the rise! Kudo helps the tiger roar again!
+Tara “Thunder” Hike signs with BHOTWG, first female on roster
+Hell Monkey sent to SAISHO: On his way to PGHW at last?
+Samoan Machine sent to Hinote Dojo, fine tuning before he joins main BHOTWG roster.
+Reigning Burning World Champion Hiroaki Nakasawa claims: “I could dominate American wrestling too”
+BHOTWG and PGHW call up trainees, check inside for details on future stars
+5SSW debut dojo graduate Fuyuko Higa, one to watch for the future

Iron Japan Wrestling release details of debut tour and roster
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

About a month ago I told everyone about the upcoming debut of a new Japanese promotion called Iron Japan Wrestling… things have been fairly quiet on them, with the article getting less views than pretty much all the others combined., but they have now released details of their debut roster and the line ups for their shows. Their first tour is pretty short but features some good low level Japanese talent, it should be intereting to see what they do with their roster. Here’s a translated version of their press release.


Thirteen men have heard the call of the Iron Mountain, thirteen men shall compete for the right to be named The Iron Man and to be the inaugural IJW World Heavyweight Champion.

Here are the details of those who have heeded the call.

CHALLENGERS

BISON Yano - Standing 6’6 and weighing 290 pounds, BISON has one of the most powerful men in wrestling today. His most devastating technique is the Yano Express boot, and his team with Brute Kikuchi will be facing off with the Apocalypse Riders before he sees tournament action.
Brother Yoshiitaka – A middleweight with a wide array of skills, Yoshiitaka has already proven himself to be quite the competitor. With visions of success in his future, he may well have what it takes to climb to the top of the mountain.
Brute Kikuchi – The largest man in the tournament at 6’9 and 303 pounds, Akira “Brute” Kikuchi who will look to use his Kikuchi Crush to put opponents away. Teams with BISON Yano, with whom he will team on the showcase show against The Apocalypse Riders.
Dynamite Narahashi – BOOM!! The Narahashi Cutter is a technique that cannot be taken lightly from this former Rookie of the Year. While his career has not progressed as many feel it should have, he is in possession of all the skills required to become a champion and his confidence has yet to be shaken.
Hitomaro Suzuki – Intensity, technique and fire are all attribute possessed by this youngster who’s rise to the top of the world was slowed when INSPIRE closed. Now with a new mountain to climb, Suzuki is one of the favourites to win based on his reputation.
Inejiro Yoshizawa (Spirit of the Lizard) – Best known as a tag team wrestler, both he and his partner have seized on this chance to climb the Iron Mountain in search of gold. A n athletic light heavyweight with the versatility to wrestle many styles, he could be very dangerous in the tournament.
Lion Genji – At aged just 20 years old, Lion Genji is very much a young lion out to prove himself. With a tough field ahead of him, he is an unlikely choice to win but has shown a lot of skill for a young man and cannot be taken lightly.
Musashi – Just 18 years old, standing 5’9 and weighing 170 pounds, this young man doesn’t know his own size. After demanding a chance to prove himself, he has been entered into the inaugural tournament to crown a champion, and will get a chance to showcase his skills against Onishi Takuma beforehand as Takuma tests the youngster.
Nariaki Hitomi – This young athlete has already laid claim to the vacant IJW World Heavyweight championship, boldly declaring that he will win the tournament and the title. Known for showing a lot of promise with BHOTWG, he has some big league experience under his belt that could see him go far.
Noritoshi Miura (Spirit of the Shark) – Teaming with his regular partner, Miura has shown himself to be a tough brawler capable of going toe to toe with anyone. His first IJW match will see him team with his partner against Yano & Kikuchi before he is taken out of his comfort zone and tested in singles competition.
Oda Yakuta – This athletic heavyweight has shown himself to be a highly promising talent who’s reputation so far has been built with the defunct INSPIRE organisation. Known for his hard hitting brawling style, Oda will be a tough man to beat in this tournament.
Onishi Takuma – The founder of IJW, Onishi Takuma is famed for his brutal palm strikes and chops leading to the Takuma Crossface Submission on his way to victory. An obvious front runner to the trophy and the championship, he has more than 20 years of experience on his side.
Tsurayuki Kamachi – Kamachi comes to the tournament with a fine pedigree, having been trained in the PGHW dojo and seasoned with INSPIRE. His physical conditioning seems superior to everyone else in the tournament and his toughness is unquestioned, so should it come down to those attributes then he would surely be favourite to reach the summit of the Iron Mountain.

SCHEDULE

IJW’s first tour will consist of 3 shows. Show 1 is a showcase of talent, where 10 of IJW’s finest will demonstrate their skills and get a feel for each other. Show 2 will eliminate 5 men from the field of competition as the tournament gets underway, featuring only singles matches. And finally show 3 will be the last 8 men in the tournament, squaring off in singles competition until only one man remains and is crowned the IJW World Heavyweight champion and The Iron Man Tournament champion. Here are the line ups for the shows.

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Prelim 1 vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: Prelim 2 vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Prelim 3 vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Prelim 4 vs Prelim 5
Match 5: #1 vs #2
Match 6: #3 vs #4
Match 7: #5 vs #6 for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

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Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountain, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire. One man will reach the summit and claim glory, while the rest must continue to climb the Iron Mountain.

Three shows during which IJW will crown their first ever champions and showcase some particularly fine young Japanese talent. I’m not sure who will walk out victorious in this one but I imagine that whoever it will be is going to be one of their figureheads for the forseeable future. Could go any number of ways… I’d offer a predicition but I’m quite biased on who I think should win. If you’ve got any opinions on the matter then feel free to share them, I always like talking puro with fellow enthusiasts.

- Robert Greene

[Derek B]

OOC Post

Just wanted to make an early out-of-character post to say a few things. First of all, this is a 0/0/0/0 game... I'm based in Kanto, Japan and I've got 0 prestige, popularity, money and momentum to start with. Really going for the challenge here. :)

I'm playing with almost all the user preferences ticked, except I've got numbers instead of grades AND access to the Dirt Sheet. Throughout testing of TEW2010 I've gotten so used to numbers that I find I don't want to look back at the letters now... plus this way I can use my own match grading system. All matches/segments will be graded out of 10 from now on. For example, 95+ would be a 10/10, 85 to 94 would be a 9/10 and so on. I like it that way. I'm not going to tell you my user preferences though, you'll have to work those out for yourselves.

Logo coming soon too. I've asked Kam for a logo but obviously he has a huge backlog of requests to through because everyone knows he's awesome. For anyone thinking "but there's an Iron Japan Wrestling logo in the CV97..." I'm not using that one deliberately. Can't go stealing GCG's mascot when my mascots are mountains. :p

And lastly... there were no changes to the default Cornellverse from the full release of the game except to add IJW in at the start of the game. My user character is Onishi Takuma, a 42 year old Japanese wrestler with arm problems, fading skills and mediocre talent. The only stat he beats anyone else on my roster at is psychology... but he's got 15 years experience on most of them so I figured that would be fine. :cool:

Predictions welcomed, I'll be pleased to have everyone on board as we all cimb the Iron Mountain in what is my first venture into the lower reaches of Japan in the Cornellverse. Who knows what's going to go wrong! :D

[FlameSnoopy]

OOC Post

Just wanted to make an early out-of-character post to say a few things. First of all, this is a 0/0/0/0 game... I'm based in Kanto, Japan and I've got 0 prestige, popularity, money and momentum to start with. Really going for the challenge here. :)

I'm playing with almost all the user preferences ticked, except I've got numbers instead of grades AND access to the Dirt Sheet. Throughout testing of TEW2010 I've gotten so used to numbers that I find I don't want to look back at the letters now... plus this way I can use my own match grading system. All matches/segments will be graded out of 10 from now on. For example, 95+ would be a 10/10, 85 to 94 would be a 9/10 and so on. I like it that way. I'm not going to tell you my user preferences though, you'll have to work those out for yourselves.

And lastly... there were no changes to the default Cornellverse from the full release of the game except to add IJW in at the start of the game. My user character is Onishi Takuma, a 42 year old Japanese wrestler with arm problems, fading skills and mediocre talent. The only stat he beats anyone else on my roster at is psychology... but he's got 15 years experience on most of them so I figured that would be fine. :cool:

Predictions welcomed, I'll be pleased to have everyone on board as we all cimb the Iron Mountain in what is my first venture into the lower reaches of Japan in the Cornellverse. Who knows what's going to go wrong! :D

I am going to follow, but I will not predict the first time around :)

[EricAdams]

Just chiming in to say I love this. I love the Engrish, I love the Mountain set up (it's sort of reminiscent of DG's Gates system) and I love the roster and writing. I'm not going to predict just yet, but you have a fan.

[Bigpapa42]

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: BISON Yano vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 5: Oda Yakuta vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 6: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 7: Oda Yakuta vs Dynamite Narahashi for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

[Jingo]

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: BISON Yanovs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 5: Onishi Takuma vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 6: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Brother Yoshiitaka
Match 7: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Onishi Takuma for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

[FINisher]

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: BISON Yanovs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 5: Onishi Takuma vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 6: Nariaki Hitomi vs Brother Yoshiitaka
Match 7: Nariaki Hitomi vs Hitomaro Suzuki for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

[jtlant]

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: BISON Yano vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 5: Onishi Takuma vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 6: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 7: Hitomaro Suzuki vs Dynamite Narahashi for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

[The Masked Orange]

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: BISON Yano vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 5: Onishi Takuma vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 6: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 7: Hitomaro Suzuki vs Dynamite Narahashi for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

So, when will The Force come in to play.



No Force? What type of dynasty is this?sarcasm

[SeanMcFly]

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Lion Genji vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: Bison Yano vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Musashi vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Inejiro Yoshizawa vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 5: Lion Genji vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 6: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 7: Hitomaro Suzuki vs Dynamite Narahashi for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

[maskedpropaganda]

SHOW 1: IJW Talent Showcase
Lion Genji vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
Onishi Takuma vs Musashi
Yano & Kikuchi vs The Apocalyse Riders
MAIN EVENT: Nariaki Hitomi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Prelim 1: Onishi Takuma vs Lion Genji
Prelim 2: Noritoshi Miura vs BISON Yano
Prelim 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Musashi
Prelim 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT: Prelim 5: Brute Kikuchi vs Dynamite Narahashi

SHOW 3: IJW The Iron Man Tournament
Match 1: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
Match 2: BISON Yano vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 3: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi
Match 4: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 5: Oda Yakuta vs Hitomaro Suzuki
Match 6: Tsuayuki Kamachi vs Dynamite Narahashi
Match 7: Hitomaro Suzuki vs Dynamite Narahashi for the Iron Man Trophy and the IJW World Heavyweight Championship

[Astil]

Yeah, I don't know any of these guys.

Although I do enjoy the Blind Faith idea. May steal it.

[MrOnu]

Yeah, I don't know any of these guys.

Although I do enjoy the Blind Faith idea. May steal it.

As much as I like the concept of this diary, I'm in the same boat; don't know **** about these guys. Should still be fun to read though. :D

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

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+Kenko Takemitsu thanks Stone family for his training, will repay them by becoming a star one day
+Sadaharu Jimbo and Bryan Holmes rumoured argument reason behind Holmes PGHW release, but what was it all about?



Iron Japan Wrestling debut tour results
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Here are the collected results for the debut tour of the Iron Japan Wrestling. Not very well attended by any means, they will be hoping to bring in more fans for their next tour and hopefully some new wrestlers too.

Thursday, Week 3, February
IJW: Talent Showcase
Gunma Hall: 11 in attendance

- Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated Lion Genji via pinfall at 10:51 following a German suplex. Both men showed their indominatable fighting spirit in this contest and the action was intense from the outset. Kamachi earned the victory when he hit a second bridged German suplex from which Genji was unable to kick out in time. RATING: 4/10
- Onishi Takuma defeated Musashi via submission at 9:29 with a Takuma Crossface Submission. Musashi threw everything he had at the founder of IJW, but he was giving up 7 inches and close to 100 pounds in weight. Despite some impactful kicks from the lion hearted rookie, Takuma’s chops overwhelmed him and he was driven to the mat and forced to submit to the crossface. RATING: 4/10
- The Apocalypse Riders defeated Yano & Kikuchi via pinfall at 10:34 following The End Of The World. A scrappy brawl that never really seemed to be under control, the young power team of Yano and Kikuchi tried to overwhelm their opponents while the more experienced duo tried to milk their experience. Both sides made some mistakes and it was a mistake that led to The Apocalyse Riders hitting the End of the World on Kikuchi to pick up the win. RATING: 2/10
- Dynamite Narahashi defeated Nariaki Hitomi via pinfall at 22:12 following a Narahashi Cutter. Two very competitive and evenly matched young stars gave each other almost everything they had, and with both men looking ready to break, the Narahashi Cutter came out of nowhere and was enough to take the fall. RATING: 4/10

Personally I enjoyed the show although it must have been demoralising for everyone to see such a small crowd. Musashi is an incredibly intense performer and fun to watch, but he looks too small to be taken seriously at heavyweight… ever. The tag match was a train wreck, but all in all the show had some solid matches, headlined by a very good encounter between Narahashi and Hitomi which gets match of the night.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Thursday, Week 4, February
IJW: Iron Man Tournament Preliminaries
Gunma Hall: 12 in attendance

- Onishi Takuma defeated Lion Genji via submission at 18:17 with the Takuma Crossface Submission. With a gulf of 22 years of wrestling experience, Genji knew he was battling against the odds in this one and took it to the founder of IJW. Takuma let the youngster make some mistakes and punished him, finally wearing him down with chops and forcing the submission with the crossface. RATING: 3/10
- BISON Yano defeated Noritoshi Miura via pinfall at 14:04 following a Yano Express. Having clashed in tag team action these two men had taken a few notes and learned from the experience. This was an even contest, but without a partner to help him Miura fell to BISON’s power in the end. RATING: 2/10
- Tsurayuki Hamachi defeated Musashi via submission at 18:49 with an inverted sleeper. Musashi showed no fear and no signs of backing down as he tried to chop down his opponent with kicks. Hamachi, having faced kickboxers before in INSPIRE used his own experience to let his opponent wear himself down and eventually grounded the young lion and made him tap out with an inverted sleeper. RATING: 4/10
- Brother Yoshiitaka defeated Inejiro Yoshizawa via pinfall at 14:24 with a Shaolin Powerbomb. This was a fairly open bout that saw Yoshiitaka take to the air when necessary to regain an advantage. Inejiro showed a lack of singles experience that cost him this match, eventually falling prey to the Shaolin Powerbomb. RATING: 3/10
- Dynamite Narahashi defeated Brute Kikuchi via pinfall at 14:41 with a Narahashi Cutter. Kikuchi looked impressive in this match as he used his raw power to overwhelm his smaller opponent. It wasn’t all one way traffic though as Narahashi showed that he had learned a thing or two while with BHOTWG, ultimately countering a ****y gorilla press slam into a Narahashi Cutter, stunning his opponent long enough to pick up the win and advance to the final 8. RATING: 3/10

Five men advance to the finals of the inaugural Iron Man Tournament for the chance to be declared the Iron Man and the first ever IJW World Heavyweight champion. With one more week to get into peak condition for what is sure to be a gruelling event, the three men with byes are sure to enjoyed watching the five winners toughing it out in these hard hitting matches. Match of the night was undoubtedly the Kamachi-Musashi match, with the little lion once again impressing against much larger competition, even in defeat. Good show for IJW, the tournament should however blow this away.

OVERALL RATING: 3/10

Thursday, Week 1, March
IJW: The Iron Man Tournament
Gunma Hall: 15 in attendance

QUARTER FINALS
- Onishi Takuma defeated Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 13:20 following a series of mounted palm thursts. A hard hitting opening match up in the tournament saw both men undoubtedly take something out of each other’s tanks while trying to put each other away early. Experience shone through once again, with Oda failing to complete a suplex leaving Takuma in the mount position where he proceeded to deliver a barrage of palm thrusts that directly led to a pinfall when Yakuta was too disoriented to kick out even after covering up. RATING: 3/10
- Hitomaro Suzuki defeated BISON Yano via pinfall at 9:22 following a backdrop driver. Yano dominated the striking when the contest was standing but his lack of technique was exposed once he was taken down to the mat and Suzuki took control. Yano failed to get back into the match and a wild lariat attempt was countered into the backdrop driver for the pinfall. RATING: 4/10
- Nariaki Hitomi defeated Tsurayuki Kamachi via pinfall at 11:13 following a running lariat. With some of the finest hard hitting action yet seen in an IJW ring, Nariaki Hitomi laid it all on the line in this match though it took 2 running laraits to get the job done. Kamachi was hailed as one of the favourites heading into this match but was unable to control his larger opponent and paid the price. RATING: 4//10
- Dynamite Narahashi defeated Brother Yoshiitaka via pinfall at 14:55 following a Narahashi Cutter. Both men showed their mastery of several styles of combat in this action packed match, culminating in a top rope battle that almost saw Yoshiitaka hit a huge senton bomb, only for Dynamite to move and then land a Narahashi Cutter in the recovery. RATING: 4/10

-With the action warming up, a brief intermission was called which gave the paying fans a chance to refresh themselves while the wrestlers did the same too. Withi just four men remaining in the tournament, the pressure is beginning to rise… who will earn the right to declare themselves the Iron Man, and lay claim to the IJW World Heavyweight championship?

SEMI FINALS

- Hitomaro Suzuki defeated Onishi Takuma via pinfall at 14:03 following a backdrop driver. These two fiery competitors put their hearts and souls into this match, exchanging stiff strikes hard hitting suplexes. Takuma’s palm strikes have won him many striking battles but Suzuki knew to expect this, toughed it out through the pain and kept scoring withi backdrop drivers on Takuma until he could no longer strike back. A final backdrop driver was enough to get the pinfall for Suzuki, upsetting the experienced veteran in this match. RATING: 3/10
- Dynamite Narahashi defeated Nariaki Hitomi via pinfall at 13:23 following a Narahashi Cutter. The explosiveness of Narahashi once again brought him back from the brink of defeat as Hitomi looked to avenge his previous loss in the IJW Showcase that these two young stars headlined. Hitomi was clearly motivated to win for revenge and for glory, but Narahashi once again picked his spot and managed to stun Hitomi long enough to pick up the pinfall following the Narahashi Cutter. RATING: 4/10

- A brief rest was given to Narahashi as he took on fluids and prepared for his third contest of the evening while his opponent Hitomaro Suzuki made his way to the ring. Announcer Hironamu Makoto put over how much the following match up meant, declaring this a monumental moment in IJW histry as the first ever Iron Man and the IJW World Heavyweight champion will be decided.

FINAL
- With fatigue clearly taking it’s toll on both men, Narahashi tried to do everything in his power to drain Suzuki’s energy, especially after the early hard hitting opponents he’d faced. Suzuki tried to strike his way out of trouble and looked to end the fight with a backdrop driver early on that dazed and confused Narahashi. The match proceeded at a high pace given the tired nature of both men, leading to a Narahashi Cutter that Suzuki powered out of to hit a backdrop driver... only for Narahashi to recover fast enough to hit a second Narahashi Cutter. Barely able to muster the energy to make the cover, Narahashi nevertheless picked up the 3 count after 15 minutes of intense action! RATING: 4/10

Dynamite Narahashi defeated Hitomaru Suzuki to win The Iron Man Tournament and become the inaugural IJW World Heavyweight champion.

- The respectful crowd in the Gunma Hall showed their appreciation for the hard work Dynamite Narahashi and everyone on the IJW roster had put into the Iron Man Tournament, with a new champion crowned and a fantastic tournament now completed. Proud, even in defeat, Suzuki helped the champion to strap the IJW World Heavyweight championship belt around the waist of Dynatmite Narahashi who celebrated in the ring, breathing heavily and showing clear signs that the tournament had taken it’s toll.

All hyperbole aside, this was an enjoyable tournament to watch. It wasn’t up to the standards of the upcoming PGHW Elite Series or BHOTWG’s Best of Super Juniors… but it was a good showcase of some of Japan’s better, lesser known talents. I hope that IJW keep up the good work and bring this back again next year, perhaps with an even larger field to choose from and some bigger name talent, because that would go a long way towards helping them out. Good show for them… but nothing compared to the big boys.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Dynamite Narahashi has been the MVP of the tour and rightfully got the title belt, which should go some way to establishing his reputation in Japan once again. I’m hoping that some of you guys (my loyal readers!) check out the DVD and support the company as they have potential. Anything you can give to their merchandise funds would be appreciated. We might not live there, but we can show our support!

Shout outs go to my online friends bigpapa42, The Masked Orange and SeanMcFly for predicting the winner correctly... good work you guys. No-one got every result right, but a good number of you guys proved you know your stuff when it comes to low level puro. You make me proud! *sniff*

Anyways, that’s all from me. If you want to talk puro, drop me a line and then regret that you ever did. I’ll talk your hind legs off for sure!!

- Robert Greene

[Derek B]

I just want to thank jtlant for the awesome logo and banner he made for me while Kamchatka works through a huge backlog of requests for his own awesome work. I didn't even ask Mr Lant, the guy is just that awesome! :D

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJWbanner.jpg

Details of the new tour coming up soon... well, sometime today anyways. Will almost be half a year through the game by time that finishes, which is a scary fast game for me... specially with a diary. Fun times. :)

[Waghlon]

You let The Apocalypse Riders win something. Clearly you are a man of great taste since you like everyone's favorite ocean based Road Warrior-clone :D

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+ SWF Awesome Impact to air on PPV in Japan? Are they seriously expecting puro fans to watch sports entertainment?
+ Tetsunori Yasuda breaks “The Monster” Raymond Diaz’s nose in 6 man tag, see how here!
+ SWF Awesome Impact headlined by Steve Frehley/Rich Money over Marat Khoklov/Jack Bruce… Japanese media opinion split.
+ “The Iron Man” Nobuatsu Tatsuko defeats Eisaku Kunomasu to win PGHW Elite Series for the second time
+ PGHW’s Blown Away Tour is blowing away BHOTWG’s Payback Tour
+ GCG owner Hanshiro Furusawa, 60, dies in tragic car accident!
+ Mabuchi Furusawa, 23, mourns his father.. vows to carry on GCG tradition and dedicates upcoming tour in his honour
+ Legendary Dan Stone retires from pro wrestling, leaves daughter Victoria Stone to un his company
+ Steve Frehley leaves SWF, may head to Japan for some competition
+ Mabuchi Furusawa “Yoshifusa Maeda’s experience will help GCG in these turbulent times”
+ Chojiro Kitoaji will miss 2 months of action with arm injury in tag team match
+ Rookie Eien Miyamoto submits to arm injury…
+ WLW bring in more fresh talent as their star continues to shine



Iron Japan Wrestling debut tour results
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Hello again puro fans, with a big shout out going to my boy jtlant following some of our recent discussions. Seems he knows his stuff and we had some great conversations about the general state of Japanese wrestling at the moment, which is becoming somewhat chaotic. From out of the chaos comes this easily missed press-release from the young Iron Japan Wrestling promotion, who hopefully won’t be overlooked and buried in the mess caused by the tragic events in GCG at the moment. As ever, I got a little help in the translations since my Japanese isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination.


Raising The Iron Mountain

The race to the summit of The Iron Mountain was dramatic and intense, with competitors throwing everything they had a the mountain. Only one man could be the first to reach the summit and lay claim to the IJW World Heavyweight Championship and the right to call himself the Iron Man… that man was Dynamite Narahashi. Demonstrating toughness of the highest calibre, a burning desire to win and the showcasing his skills for the world to see, Narahashi overcame all competition in front of him on his way to reaching the peak of the Iron Mountain.

Now comes the time of order, where those who failed to reach the summit must battle to get to the top of the mountain. Those who came closest still occupy the spots nearest the peak, while those who fell early have the longest path. In order to determine who is closest a series of events have been worked out to decide who is most deserving and who is least. The winners on this tour will ascend towards the peak, the losers will find their path elongated. The slopes of the Iron Mountain are unforgiving, yet the rewards are worth all hardships.

The semi-finalists and losing finalist make up the 3 challengers to the summit. As the only one not defeated by the IJW World Heavyweight champion, “Hands of Stone” Onishi Takuma has been granted a title shot at Dynamite Narahashi on the Raising The Iron Mountain show. The preceding shows will give both champion and challenger a first hand look at their opponent in tag team action. The rest of the matches will test everyone on the roster, giving each the chance to showcase themselves and demonstrate their standing on the Iron Mountain.

TOUR SCHEDULE

SHOW 1: IJW Iron Mountain Lower Slopes
Brute Kikuchi vs Musashi
Lion Genji vs Noritoshi Miura
Brother Yoshiitaka vs Oda Yakuta
MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi/Onishi Takuma vs Hitomaro Suzuki/Nariaki Hitomi


SHOW 2: IJW Iron Mountain Upper Slopes
Nariaki Hitomi vs Loser of Kikuchi/Musashi
Hitomaro Suzuki vs Lion Genji
BISON Yano vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi/Onishi Takuma vs The Apocalyse Riders


SHOW 3: IJW Raising The Iron Mountain
Loser of Yano/Kamachi vs Winner of Genji/Miura
Loser of Yoshiitaka/Yakuta vs Winner of Kikuchi/Musashi
IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Winner of Yoshiitaka/Yakuta
IRON CHALLENGER: Hitomaru Suzuki vs Winner of Yano/Kamachi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Onishi Takuma

CHALLENGERS

BISON Yano - Standing 6’6 and weighing 290 pounds, BISON has one of the most powerful men in wrestling today. His most devastating technique is the Yano Express boot, and his team with fellow powerhouse Brute Kikuchi is not to be underestimated.
Brother Yoshiitaka – A middleweight with a wide array of skills, Yoshiitaka has already proven himself to be quite the competitor. With visions of success in his future, he will be aiming to overcome his loss and take a position near the top of the mountain in the challenger’s position from this tour.
Brute Kikuchi – The largest man in Iron Japan Wrestling at 6’9 and 303 pounds, Akira “Brute” Kikuchi who will look to use his Kikuchi Crush to put opponents away. He teams with BISON Yano and has a blossoming rivalry forming with the Apocalpyse Riders tag team.
Dynamite Narahashi – Winner of the Iron Man Tournament and holder of the IJW World Heavyweight Championship, Dynamite Narahashi fought with fire and intelligence to win three matches in one night en route to his greatest career glory to date. He now faces the challenge of IJW founder and 20 years veteran Onishi Takuma in what is certain to be a hard fought encounter.
Hitomaro Suzuki – Intensity, technique and fire are all attribute possessed by this youngster who’s rise to the top of the world was slowed when INSPIRE closed. Falling only in the final to Dynamite Narahashi, Suzuki has his sights set on earning a championship contest in the near future though must first fend off challenges from those seeking to climb the mountain at his expense.
Inejiro Yoshizawa (Spirit of the Lizard) – Best known as a tag team wrestler with Noritoshi Miura, Inejiro has demonstrated potential to be a singles star too. Buliding his reputation in IJW in both singles and tag team competition, he is part of a developing tag team rivalry with Yano & Kikuchi.
Lion Genji – At aged just 20 years old, Lion Genji is very much a young lion out to prove himself. Inexperience is his greatest enemy, though every contest is a learning experience and he has shown considerable skill.
Musashi – Just 18 years old, standing 5’9 and weighing 170 pounds, this young man doesn’t know his own size. After boldly demanding a chance to prove himself he has shown that he is a hard hitting ball of fire in the ring, but he lacks the size or experience to compete realistically with the heavyweights.
Nariaki Hitomi – Having boldly declared himself to be the uncrowned IJW champion prior to the Iron Man Tournament, Hitomi was forced to be humble following 2 defeats on the last tour to Dynamite Narahashi. Determined to not only avenge those losses but to also claim the title he said would be his, he must now fend off challengers to his spot near the summit long enough to get a title match.
Noritoshi Miura (Spirit of the Shark) – One half of the Apocalypse Riders, Miura disappointed in singles action in the Iron Man Tournament. Seeking to improve himself and to establish his tag team as the premiere team in IJW, he faces stiff competition in the form of Yano & Kikuchi who share a similar goal.
Oda Yakuta – This athletic heavyweight has shown himself to be a highly promising talent who’s reputation so far has been built with the defunct INSPIRE organisation. Known for his hard hitting brawling style, Oda seeks to climb higher up the mountain on this tour.
Onishi Takuma – The founder of IJW, Onishi Takuma is in line for the first shot at Dynamite Narahashi’s IJW World Heavyweight championship, being the only challenger to not lose to the champion. Utilising his brutal strikes to force both submission and pinfall victories so far in IJW, he will seek to learn more about his opponent in tag team matches before they face off in the tour’s climatic encounter.
Tsurayuki Kamachi – Kamachi trained within the PGHW ranks and developed his reputation with INSPIRE, leading to him joining IJW. Equally at home on the mat or striking on his feet, Kamachi’s early exit in the Iron Man Tournament was a huge disappointment to him. He now aims to improve his standing in IJW with some wins, aiming to secure a Contenders spot by time the tour ends.

-----

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountain, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

Quite flowery language in there again, I love how complex Japanese is. Basically, this tour is about establishing the ladder system in the company and is using the results of the previous tour as a baseline for where people should be. After this tour there will be a full update to the rankings which should make things clearer in terms of working out the standing of each worker. Interesting that the founder of the company gave himself a title shot despite losing in the semi-finals, seems a bit self serving if you ask me. But also good that they haven’t made too many changes to their roster.. actually, the only change they made is one that most people wouldn’t even notice and that was to replace their announcer with a young kid. No idea if the new boy is any good or not, but he probably works for less… which is probably not a good sign for IJW’s finances.

Anywho, if anyone wants to talk about the upcoming shows with me I’d like to hear from you. Obviously this isn’t the biggest news in pro wrestling or anything, but since everyone is already talking about the big stuff I’m gonna have to keep you up to date on the little things lest we all miss them. And that would be tragic!

-Robert Greene

[The Masked Orange]

Biggz Up for pushing Dynamite!

That guy is my favourite Japanese worker, so you've just got a reader for life...


...or at least for his title reign :)

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+ PGHW tour a huge success, looking to bring in even more talent to try and top it!
+ EXODUS 2010 opens in Tohoku! Kuemon Hotta promotes them as a cutting edge, modern company!
+ EXODUS 2010 gain hype as legendary Nana “Sensational” Ogiwara signs on to help run the company
+ The Stars of EXODUS 2010: Profiles on the new promotion’s biggest names including: Kenko Takemitsu, Morimaso Kato, Kuemon Hotta, Spyder Yakuta and Quick Kick Nakao.
+ BREAKING NEWS: BHOTWG Junior champion Sensational Dragon suffers severe head trauma!! Concussion may even be career threatening!!



Iron Japan Wrestling tour results so far
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

I’ve been getting some regular mail from some of the most dedicated puro fans on the planet (You guys! And citrus fruits!) asking about the progress of Iron Japan Wrestling. They’ve not really made a big splash in Japan and have been kinda outshone by the debut of EXODUS 2010, but they’re going strong and they seem to be picking up a bit of a fanbase. Here are the results of the first two cards of their tour, with the final show coming up soon. I even included a quick predicitions sheet for the final card, given how many conditions there were on the shows leading up to it. After these shows, things should be easier to predict.. specially since I’ll be providing more updates given that you guys seem to like them so much.

Thursday, Week 3, May
IJW Iron Mountain Lower Slopes
Gunma Hall: 10 in attendance

- Brute Kikuchi defeated Musashi via pinfall at 5:37 following a Kikuchi Crush. Musashi charged headlong into this match despite his huge size disadvantage. Kikuchi took a few minutes to get his bearings against the lion hearted speedball, but when he did get him all it took was a couple of brutal slams followed by a pair of Kikuchi Crush chokeslams to pick up the win. RATING: 2/10
- Noritoshi Miura defeated Lion Genji via pinfall at 9:45 following a Storm Rider. Miura advances up the Iron Mountain with this hard fought win in what was a very close contest. RATING: 2/10
- Brother Yoshiitaka defeated Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 13:10 following a Shaolin Powerbomb. A bitter defeat for Yakuta in this open ended contest, with the Yakuta-Bomb countered into the Shaolin Powerbomb leading to the finish in a match that could have went either way. Yoshiitaka moves up to earn a shot at contendership status while Yakuta is still in search of a much needed win.RATING: 3/10
- Dynamite Narahashi/Onishi Takuma defeated Hitomaro Suzuki/Nariaki Hitomi via at 22:51 following a Narahashi Cutter on Nariaki Hitomi. Neither team seemed to be working well together, with both sides fighting internally and with the men they faced in the Iron Man Tournament. The champion was clearly a marked man as he felt a lot of the offense in this one before Suzuki and Hitomi started to break down as a team, each seeking to lay their claim to a future title shot. Takuma’s strikes caused a lot of damage while he was in the match though he wisely spent as much time resting himself as possible… the finish came off a blind tag, with Narahashi sneaking into the ring and once again catching Nariaki Hitomi with the Narahashi Cutter to pick up a pinfall victory on him, the third in their three encounters so far in IJW. RATING: 4/10


It’s starting to become clear who the power players of IJW are going to be, with the likes of Yoshiitaka picking up a win and all four semi-finalists from the original tournament being booked strongly tonight. The champion isn’t being booked to be dominant as his wins sometimes come out of the blue, but he is regularly beating Nariaki Hitomi who is being kept strong for most of his time in matches. The main event was an enjoyable tag team affair, should be interesting to see where this goes over the rest of the tour.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Thursday, Week 4, May
IJW Iron Mountain Upper Slopes
Gunma Hall: 36 in attendance

- Nariaki Hitomi defeated Musashi via pinfall at 9:06 following a Lariat. Musashi’s speed kept him in this match as he once again tried everything to overcome the size difference to little avail. Hitomi missed two lariat attempts but after some close up wearing down a third lariat proved to be more than enough to keep Musashi down for the count and to secure his spot as a top contender for another day. RATING: 4/10
- Hitomaro Suzuki defeated Lion Genji via pinfall at 10:34 following a Backdrop Driver. Featuring some fierece striking and some intensive grappling, Suzuki proved himself once again to be one of the brightest young talents in Japan witih a strong display here again a youngster who was hungry to prove himself. Suzuki also secures his place in as a contender and will find out who his opponent for the next show will be… next. RATING: 4/10
- Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated BISON Yano via submission at 12:16 following an Inverted Sleeper. Technique versus power is a classic battle, and in this case technique was the winner as Kamachi wisely tried to ground this contest and outwrestle his larger and more powerful opponent. When the time was right Kamachi locked in the Inverted Sleeper and managed to make big BISON Yano tap out. RATING: 4/10
- Dynamite Narahashi/Onishi Takuma defeated The Apocalypse Riders via referee stoppage at 19:21 following Mounted Palm Thrust from Takuma to Miura. After the previous tag team match Narahashi demanded more from Takuma, refusing to tag in until he felt the veteran had done his fair share of the work. The Riders were by far the more cohesive team but with the champion and #1 contender as their opposition they eventually found themselves overwhelmed by force. Narahashi floored Yoshisawa with a Narahashi Cutter and then watched closely as Takuma pounded Miura into the mat with devastating mounted palm thrusts. RATING: 3/10


A good show let down slightly by the main event, which was a scrappy affair at best.although would probably be described by many as “rugged”. Takuma and Narahashi have built up the tension between them in the matches in a way that doesn’t come across well in text but should provide an excellent match on their last big show. It was also great to see a much bigger crowd for this show than previous ones, showing that the company must be doing something right when it comes to getting their name out there.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

And lastly, a quick predicitions sheet for their final tour event!

SHOW 3: IJW Raising The Iron Mountain
BISON Yano vs Noritoshi Miura
Oda Yakuta vs Brute Kikuchi
IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Brother Yoshiitaka
IRON CHALLENGER: Hitomaru Suzuki vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Onishi Takuma

-Robert Greene

[The Masked Orange]

SHOW 3: IJW Raising The Iron Mountain

BISON Yano vs Noritoshi Miura
Oda Yakuta vs Brute Kikuchi
IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Brother Yoshiitaka
IRON CHALLENGER: Hitomaru Suzuki vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Onishi Takuma


I'm going with big men and double bluffs, but expecting Narahashi to retain above everything.

[jtlant]

SHOW 3: IJW Raising The Iron Mountain

BISON Yano vs Noritoshi Miura

Yano's size is too much for Miura.

Oda Yakuta vs Brute Kikuchi

Yakuta is better at this point, so he picks up the win.

IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Brother Yoshiitaka

Hitomi takes the win here.

IRON CHALLENGER: Hitomaru Suzuki vs Tsurayuki Kamachi

Suzuki will probably be one of your key guys once he gets past young lion status, and I believe he starts out right on the cusp, so he goes over another young lion in Kamachi.

IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Onishi Takuma

I think Narahashi will get a pretty lengthy run to start out with. At least until some of your other youngsters get a little bit more established.

[SeanMcFly]

BISON Yano vs Noritoshi Miura
Oda Yakuta vs Brute Kikuchi
IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Brother Yoshiitaka
IRON CHALLENGER: Hitomaru Suzuki vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Onishi Takuma

[Astil]

SHOW 3: IJW Raising The Iron Mountain
BISON Yano vs Noritoshi Miura
Oda Yakuta vs Brute Kikuchi
IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Brother Yoshiitaka
IRON CHALLENGER: Hitomaru Suzuki vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MAIN EVENT: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Onishi Takuma

[Dynamite Kid]

The GDS living legend has returned. Derek B. count me as a follower! and may THE FORCE be with you.

[Derek B]

Iron Japan Wrestling: Raising The Iron Mountain
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

For you loyal IJW fans, here are the results of their last tour show this time around… if you want to help them out then the DVD of the entire tour should be available on their website, you might need to use some kind of translator program to make it readable though, but I think it’ll probably be the top option if you go to their website.

Thursday, Week 1, June
IJW Raising The Iron Mountain
Gunma Hall: 33 in attendance

- Noritoshi Miura defeated BISON Yanovia pinfall at 9:43 following a Storm Rider. Meeting in a rematch of their Iron Man Tournament bout, these two men have fast developed a rivalry that sparked in the tag team ranks. Yano picked up the win the first time around, but this time it was Miura who got the fall, scoring with a Storm Rider to get the pinfall.RATING: 2/10
- Oda Yakuta defeated Brute Kikuchi via pinfall at 12:42 following a Yakuta-Bomb. Yakuta finally started to regain momentum as his wild offensive flurries proved to be enough to stop his powerhouse opponent in this match. A big Yakuta-Bomb was enough to end this match as Kikuchi slips downwards on the Iron Mountain. RATING: 2/10
- IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi defeated Brother Yoshiitaka via pinfall at 17:38 following a Lariat. This was an exciting match between two sharply contrasting styles of wrestler. Yoshiitaka’s risk taking offense saw him break up Hitomi’s rhythm for lengthy periods of the match but in the end Hitomi’s power proved superior to speed, as he hit a tiring Yoshiitaka with a devastating Lariat and the pinfall victory that keeps him in prime position to challenge for the IJW World Heavyweight Championship. RATING: 4/10
- IRON CHALLENGER: Hitomaro Suzuki defeated Tsurayuki Kamachi via pinfall at 20:15 following a Backdrop Driver. Two fiery combatants faced off in one of the hardest hitting and best technical encounters IJW has yet seen. Starting off slowly as the two men got a feel for each other, the match also saw some hard hitting striking battles that left both men in a lot of pain. In the end Suzuki had just a little more fire on this night and managed to pick up a pinfall folllowing a devastating Backdrop Driver. RATING: 5/10
- IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Dynamite Narahashi retains over Onishi Takuma via pinfall at 18:47 following a Narahashi Cutter. Narahashi held on in the face of some brutal barrages of strikes from Takuma, repeatedly escaping some mounted flurries by squirming to the ropes. Takuma’s experience seemed like it may have been enough to win but after a lengthy battle he seemed to be running out of energy as Narahashi’s superior conditioning came into play. With both men trying everything they could to end the match, it was Narahashi who came up trumps as he pulled out a Narahashi Cutter from the depths of nowhere to retain the IJW World Heavyweight Championship.RATING: 4/10


Match of the night has to go to Suzuki vs Kamachi… the young guys really put on a great match and threw everything at each other while also showing they have a lot of technique to back up their toughness. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see these guys in PGHW somewhere down the line. The main event was also a very good match of a different kind, with the main story being Takuma’s experience vs the youth energy of Narahashi. Good performances by both men, I can’t wait to see them on the next tour as both have some great moves. Takuma’s chops look insane sometimes… it really looks like he’s killing people when he hits them.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

The IJW website has already announced that the next tour will feature the Blind Faith Tournament that was talked about in their initial press release. Seems some new blood will join the company at least for the duration of the tournament, though with the debut of EXODUS 2010 it will be interesting to see what calibre of new addition we’ll get to see. Their next press release will have the complete listing of the Iron Mountain and the pairings for the Blind Faith Tournament along with tour details. I can’t wait for the Blind Faith tournament, random tag teams always lead to interesting situations and I’m hoping they find some pairings they can use on the way to crowning their own tag team champions. Another mountain to climb and all that…

As ever, if you want to talk to me about who they might bring in or about the general state of Japanese wrestling, let me know! I’m always happy to talk and you never know when you might learn something new. Til then, have fun and be careful when you watch PGHW... you never know when you might get injured!

- Robert Greene

[The Masked Orange]

Damn you Derek!

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+ Tetsunori Yasuda wrestles with broken collar bone, youngster praised for his toughness
+ Sadaharu Jimbo steps down as president of PGHW, hands over the reigns of the company to his son Seiji Jimbo
+ Details of PGHW press conference with Seiji Jimbo and his plans for the company’s future
+ Spyder Yakuta victorious in the Matsumoto Hall as EXODUS 2010 crown their first champion
+ Oniji “Burning EXILE” Takashiita signs with PGHW, is he finally coming out from the cold?
+ Former MMA star Roy Edison claims “I’m ready to take on the best in PGHW and put them in their place”
+ John “Hell Monkey” Pathlow joins PGHW full time
+ BREAKING NEWS: Legendary lucha libre star El Patron saves child from being hit by a bus in Mexico City!
+ Indy standout Hitomaro Suzuki signs for PGHW, heads to SAISHO to train.


Iron Japan Wrestling tour results so far
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

While Japanese wrestling continues to live in a state of turmoil, some of us just have to keep plucking out the valuable information and sharing it with the fans (you guys and fruits!) who don’t quite understand what is going on. Within the last 12 months three of the biggest promotions in the country have gotten new owners through politics, death and retirement… another major organisation died, the only joshi promotion was almost dismantled through retirements and the only steady influences at the moment seem to be the small indy promotions who are trying to build themselves amidst the chaos.

Which brings me back on topic with Iron Japan Wrestling. In a bid to catch the imagination of the fans they have organised the Blind Faith tournament, a tag team tournament where everyone is drawn with random partners.. the winning team must then face off against each other in order to get a shot at the IJW World Heavyweight Championshp currently held by Dynamite Narahashi. Fun times. Here’s a translated copy of their press release which has quite a lot of changes… even IJW hasn’t been untouched by the changes sweeping the country.

Iron Japan Wrestling presents… The Blind Faith Tournament 2010

The Iron Mountain is a treacherous place, the ever changing slopes weave a maze that few can fight through in order to reach the summit. Watching down from the peak of the Iron Mountain is IJW World Heavyweight champion Dynamite Narahashi… seeking to challenge him were three men. With the challenge of Onishi Takuma fended off, the next in line was Hitomaro Suzuki. However, he has chosen to depart the Iron Mountain in favour of a different adventure, allowing Nariaki Hitomi to climb closet to the peak. When the Blind Faith Tour concludes, Dynamite Narahashi will meet his challenger Nariaki Hitomi… with the winner watching to see who will face them next as the final battle between tag partners rages.

The following are the current standings on the Iron Mountain. Each man’s standing takes into account his successes and his failures in an IJW ring, along with the quality of opposition they have faced. The vacant Top Contenders place will be claimed in short order, such is the competitive nature of those who climb the Iron Mountain.

A “W” signifies a recent victory. A “L” signifies a recent loss. A “D” signifies a recent draw. The most recent result is on the left hand side. Only the 5 most recent results are shown.

THE IRON MOUNTAIN

IJW World Heavyweight Champion: Dynamite Narahashi

Top Contenders
W - Nariaki Hitomi
L - Onishi Takuma
(vacant)

The Iron Mountain
LW - Tsurayuki Kamachi
LW - Brother Yoshiitaka
WL - Oda Yakuta
WW - Noritoshi Miura
LW - Brute Kikuchi
LL - BISON Yano
- Inejiro Yoshizawa
L - Lion Genji
L - Musashi

New Challengers
- Kali Hanari
- Shiba Mizoguchi
- Taheji Konoe[
- Tobei Sugmiura
- Tomohiko Wakai
- Yusuke Takahama


CHALLENGERS

BISON Yano - Standing 6’6 and weighing 290 pounds, BISON is one of the most powerful men in wrestling today. His most devastating technique, the Yano Express boot, and his team with fellow powerhouse Brute Kikuchi are not to be underestimated. The luck of the draw has paired him with one of his tag team rivals Inejiro Yoshizawa, in a match where he will face IJW founder Onishi Takuma and his own regular tag team partner in the first round…
Brother Yoshiitaka – A middleweight with a wide array of skills, Yoshiitaka has already proven himself to be quite the competitor. More than capable of throwing his weight around to use his body as an offensive weapon, his first round match will see him be the heaviest competitor in the contest while he will also be looking forward to his contendership bout with Tsurayuki Kamacha following the departure of Hitomaro Suzuki.
Brute Kikuchi – The largest man in Iron Japan Wrestling at 6’9 and 303 pounds, Akira “Brute” Kikuchi who will look to use his Kikuchi Crush to put opponents away. He regularly teams with BISON Yano and has a blossoming rivalry forming with the Apocalpyse Riders tag team. His pairing with IJW founder Onishi Takuma has been declared the early favourites to win the entire tournament due to their combined experience and power.
Dynamite Narahashi – Winner of the Iron Man Tournament and holder of the IJW World Heavyweight Championship, Dynamite Narahashi fended off Onishi Takuma to hold onto his spot at the top of the Iron Mountain. Free from competing in the Blind Faith tournament as champion, he will face off once again with Nariaki Hitomi with the championship on the line, seeking to continue his perfect record against the challenger.
Inejiro Yoshizawa (Spirit of the Lizard) – Best known as a tag team wrestler with Noritoshi Miura, Inejiro has demonstrated potential to be a singles star too. Buliding his reputation in IJW in both singles and tag team competition, he is part of a developing tag team rivalry with Yano & Kikuchi. Now forced to team with Yano in Blind Faith action, their team may have troubles working together.
Kali Hanari – A new addition to the IJW roster of challengers, Hanari is a young graduate of WLW’s highly esteemed youth system. A promising junior heavyweight, his quickness is his main asset and he will seek to climb the mountains of IJW as fast as possible. He teams with Brother Yoshiitaka in the Blind Faith tournament, a draw he must surely be happy with.
Lion Genji – At aged just 20 years old, Lion Genji is very much a young lion out to prove himself. Inexperience is his greatest enemy, though every contest is a learning experience and he has shown considerable skill. Teaming with Shiba Mizoguchi should help to teach him a lot about the technical aspects of wrestling.
Musashi – Just 18 years old, standing 5’9 and weighing 170 pounds, this young man does not seem to know his own size as he demands to fight in the heavyweight division. A dangerous opponent when he gets going, he has yet to gain enough experience to put his undoubted skills to good use. He has already stated that he wishes no help, but his teammate Yusuke Takahama knows he must try to tame the young lion if their team is to progress in the tournament.
Nariaki Hitomi – Having boldly declared himself to be the uncrowned IJW champion prior to the Iron Man Tournament, Hitomi was forced to be humble following 2 defeats to Dynamite Narahashi in singles action and a third defeat in tag team action. Determined to not only avenge those losses but to also claim the title he said would be his, fortune has smiled his way and he has been granted a chance to reach the top of the Iron Mountain that he must seize with both hands. Glory awaits him if he can succeed.
Noritoshi Miura (Spirit of the Shark) – One half of the Apocalypse Riders, Miura disappointed in singles action in the Iron Man Tournament. Seeking to improve himself and to establish his tag team as the premiere team in IJW, he faces stiff competition in the form of Yano & Kikuchi who share a similar goal. Teamed with another tough brawler in Oda Yakuta, their team promises to go far in the tournament.
Oda Yakuta – This athletic heavyweight has shown himself to be a highly promising talent who’s reputation so far has been built with the defunct INSPIRE organisation. Known for his hard hitting brawling style, Oda seeks to challenger the top of the mountain after this tour by winning the Blind Faith Tournament.
Onishi Takuma – The founder of IJW, Onishi Takuma fought valiantly in his bid to reach the summit of the Iron Mountain, only to be defeated by champion Dynamite Narahashi in a hard hitting contest. Takuma seeks another chance to face the champion through the Blind Faith tournament and gained a favourable draw when he was paired with the young powerhouse Brute Kikuchi.
Shiba Mizoguchi – A new challenger for the Iron Mountain, “The Crab Master” is a submissions specialist who has spent many years training with SAISHO. Now unleashed and able to do what he pleases, he will be looking to use his many leg submissions to help him reach the peak of the Iron Mountain. His first step will be in the Blind Faith tournament, teaming with the young Lion Genji.
Taheji Konoe – The vicious Taheji Konoe is the first WEXXV wrestler to step into an IJW ring, and his reputation precedes him. Known for his savage intensit and killer instinct, he is a dangerous competitor who’s team with fellow newcomer Tobei Sugimura is a dark horse to advance far in the tournament.
Tobei Sugmiura – This instantly recognisable youngster is a promising talent who has developed a reputation for being extremely versatile in the ring. With a good grounding in many styles of wrestling, the blue haired youngster is one of the most adaptable stars. Being thrown into the Blind Faith tournament with a tag team partner like Taheji Konoe makes their duo one of the dark horses for success.
Tomohiko Wakai - This young heavyweight grappler is a graduate of the Tokyo Wrestling Dojo who has joined IJW as a trainee. With almost no experience, Wakai is described by his trainers as “a dedicated student of the gym who has a good grasp of the fundamentals of wrestling”. With only a handful of matches to his name, he comes to the tournament as an unknown quantity and will be teaming with Tsurayuki Kamachi.
Tsurayuki Kamachi – One of the brightest prospects in Japan, Kamachi got his basic training with the PGHW youth ranks and cemented his young reputation with INSPIRE. Whether wrestling on the mat or striking on his feet, Kamachi is proving to be one of the most exciting competitors that IJW has to offer. He has a contendership bout with Brother Yoshiitaka coming up on top of his challenge in the blind Faith tournament with the untested rookie, Tomohiko Wakai. If all things go well, Kamachi could potentially be next in line for a shot at the IJW World Heavyweight championship.
Yusuke Takahama – Since making the switch from baseball to wrestling, Takahama has had to endure a tough path. Few believed he would be tough enough to endure the basic training and yet he did, and with several years experience behind him now he has matured into an excellent Junior competitor. Coming to the Irom Mountain to further prove himself, his team with Musashi is already on rocky ground as the fiery youngster is on a mission to prove himself too.

SCHEDULE

Iron Japan Wrestling brings the unique Blind Faith Tournament to the Gunma Hall over the course of 3 weeks. The first show brings action from the Blind Faith Tournament as well as the debut of Shiba Mizoguchi as he takes on Brute Kikuchi, with IJW founder Onishi Takuma also in action against Noritoshi Miura, though Takuma’s contender status is not on the line. The second show sees more action from the Blind Faith Tournament, with the vacant contender’s spot being contested in the main event between Kamachi and Yoshiitaka, who will have met in the tournament by then. IJW Heavyweight Title challengers Nariaki Hitomi will also be in action, having accepted Tomohiko Wakai’s bold challenge to a contender’s match.

The third and final show on the tour will see the finals of the Blind Faith Tournament. In order to win, each of the eight randomly drawn pairings must try to demonstrate skill and teamwork in order to overcome their opponents on the road to victory. With a bond forged, the victorious team must then do battle with each other in order to be the ultimate winner of the Blind Faith Tournament and earn a shot at the IJW World Heavyweight Championship! The championship will also be on the line this night, as the reigning champion Dynamite Narahashi makes his sole appearance of the tour to defend the summit of the Iron Mountain against Nariaki Hitomi (or perhaps Tomohiko Wakai in the event of an upset). With the champion holding 3 victories over the challenger this year, Hitomi will be focussed on pulling one back while the champion will once again seek to further his reputation with another big win.

SHOW 1: IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 1
RANKINGS MATCH: Shiba Mizoguchi vs Brute Kikuchi
BF MATCH #1: Kali Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka vs Musashi/Yusuke Takahama
Onishi Takuma vs Noritoshi Miura
MAIN EVENT – BF MATCH #2: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura vs Tomohiko Wakai/Tsurayuki Kamachi


SHOW 2: IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 2
CONTENDER MATCH: Nariaki Hitomi vs Tomohiko Wakai
BF MATCH #3: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji vs Noritoshi Miura/Oda Yakuta
BF MATCH #4: Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi vs BISON Yano/Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT - CONTENDER MATCH: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Brother Yoshiitaka


SHOW 3: IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010

BF SEMI FINAL #1: BF MATCH #1 vs BF MATCH #2
BF SEMI FINAL #2: BF MATCH #3 vs BF MATCH #4
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Nariaki Hitomi
BF FINAL: BF SEMI FINAL #1 vs BF SEMI FINAL #2
MAIN EVENT - BLIND FAITH TOURNAMENT FINALE: Winning team face each other for an IJW World Heavyweight Championship Match!

-----

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountain, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

So yeah… a lot to take in there. The departure of Suzuki was a big loss for IJW as he was undoubtedly one of their top guys. His match with Kamachi at Raising The Iron Mountain stole the show and I said back then that both of those guys wouldn’t look at all out of place in PGHW. I just hope Takuma doesn’t find out I said that, I don’t think I’d ever be able to recover if he gave me a chop! :(

Anywho, there you have it. Big tournament with some very random looking tournament brackets. I think they might actually have randomly set them rather than making some logical fun teams… which would be fun, though I doubt any reasonable promoter would do that.. would they? Leaving things to chance? They wouldn’t… surely…

Hit me up if you want to chat about puro… the economy may be in dire straights, but Elemental III has so much gold right now that he’s practically turned into one in his own right! Junior, Junior Tag and Best of Super Juniors Trophy? Dayum!!

- Robert Greene

[Historian]

I'm really digging this diary thus far, by far my favorite.

[ShadowedFlames]

SHOW 1: IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 1
RANKINGS MATCH: Shiba Mizoguchi vs Brute Kikuchi
(If only to keep him on the level as Takuma-san)

BF MATCH #1: Kali Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka vs Musashi/Yusuke Takahama
(coin flip pick)

Onishi Takuma vs Noritoshi Miura
Momentum build for BF

MAIN EVENT – BF MATCH #2: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura vs Tomohiko Wakai/Tsurayuki Kamachi
(This just feels right to me for some reason.)

SHOW 2: IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 2
CONTENDER MATCH: Nariaki Hitomi vs Tomohiko Wakai
(I don't see another top contender going down just yet, though an upset may yet happen.)

BF MATCH #3: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji vs Noritoshi Miura/Oda Yakuta
(The RNG does not lie!)

BF MATCH #4: Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi vs BISON Yano/Inejiro Yoshizawa
(I'm thinking Takuma-san is going to be one of the gatekeepers for IJW and Brute's along for the ride for now.)

MAIN EVENT - CONTENDER MATCH: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Brother Yoshiitaka
(While it'd be cool to have a Shaolin in the upper three, someone would inevitably start spouting Shaolin Soccer references, and we can't have that this early!)

SHOW 3: IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010

BF SEMI FINAL #1: Konoe/Sugimura advance
BF SEMI FINAL #2: Takuma/Kikuchi advance
(Setting up a decent final round)

IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Nariaki Hitomi
(Do not see the champ losing this early.)

BF FINAL: Konoe/Sugimura with an upset as they focus on the arms of Takuma to force the submission.

MAIN EVENT - BLIND FAITH TOURNAMENT FINALE: Sugimura via attrition.

[MaxxHexx]

Good creativity, these are flesh ideas, and sounds like something off of puroresufans, which is a good thing.

If I know who these guys were this would be a favorite of mine for sure.

[The Masked Orange]

SHOW 1: IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 1
RANKINGS MATCH: Shiba Mizoguchi vs Brute Kikuchi
BF MATCH #1: Kali Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka vs Musashi/Yusuke Takahama
Onishi Takuma vs Noritoshi Miura
MAIN EVENT – BF MATCH #2: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura vs Tomohiko Wakai/Tsurayuki Kamachi

SHOW 2: IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 2
CONTENDER MATCH: Nariaki Hitomi vs Tomohiko Wakai
BF MATCH #3: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji vs Noritoshi Miura/Oda Yakuta
BF MATCH #4: Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi vs BISON Yano/Inejiro Yoshizawa
MAIN EVENT - CONTENDER MATCH: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Brother Yoshiitaka


SHOW 3: IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010

BF SEMI FINAL #1: BF MATCH #1 vs BF MATCH #2
BF SEMI FINAL #2: BF MATCH #3 vs BF MATCH #4
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Nariaki Hitomi
BF FINAL: BF SEMI FINAL #1 vs BF SEMI FINAL #2
MAIN EVENT - BLIND FAITH TOURNAMENT FINALE: Winning team face each other for an IJW World Heavyweight Championship Match!

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+ Samoan Machine on his way to BHOTWG, tipped to be a huge star with them!
+ Munemitsu Senmatsu claims WEXXV Warrior’s Heart title for third time. Insiders believe he could be a big star if he improves his wrestling skills.
+ Stone Yoshikawa joins BHOTWG, is currently in the Hinote Dojo to finen tune his skills in preparation for the big time.
+ BREAKING STORY: Big Smack Scott in face turn shocker!!
+ Tsurayuki Kamachi: “Iron Japan Wrestling is the future”
+ EXODUS 2010 featuring less competitors on shows, questions raised about their finances
+ Interview with John “Nemesis” Campbell: “My son is his own man, he’ll soon learn in RIPW what pro wrestling is really all about…”


IJW Blind Faith Tournament results so far
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Two nights of the tourn down so far, just the big event to go. As is always the case with small promotions, it's hard to predict what they're going to do next. Between trying to find stars and make money, they don't have quite the same kind of stratification (word of the day!) of talent that the big promotions like PGHW and BHOTWG do. Still... it is fun. :)

Thursday, Week 3, August
IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 1
Gunma Hall: 36 in attendance

- Shiba Mizoguchi defeated Brute Kikuchi via submission at 11:01 following a Raised Crab. Got crabs? “The Crab Master” lived up to his name as he fended off the powerful Kikuchi from the get go by targetting the legs for submission attempts. Kikuchi had the better of the early going but as time wore on he was worn down, until eventually he had no choice but to tap to a painful looking Raised Crab. RATING: 3/10
- BLIND FAITH: Kaii Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka defeated Musashi/Yusuke Takahama via pinfall at 11:30 following a Shaolin Powerbomb. With many of IJW’s Junior wrestlers in this match, the future seems bright for the division as they put on an excellent show. Both sides battled with fire and toughness, trying from the start to eliminate the competition. Musashi and Hanari clashed many times as the young lions sought to prove themselves but the experience and size advantage brought to the match by Brother Yoshiitaka was enough to allow his side to survive some hard hitting offense, with Yoshiitaka overpowering Musashi and winning with a Shaolin Powerbomb to advance his team to the next stage of the Blind Faith Tournament. RATING: 3/10
- Onishi Takuma defeated Noritoshi Miura via pinfall at 14:14 following a barrage of mounted palm strikes. Coming off the back of a couple of wins on the previous tour, Miura sought to strike upwards in the rankings with this match. Both men hit hard and hit often as brawling dominated the match up, but when it comes to toughness and brawling Takuma has the edge. Using his devastating chops, he wore down Miura enough to gain the mount position and rained down palm strikes until he was confident of a pinfall victory, with the referee close to calling a stoppage prior to that. RATING: 3/10
- BLIND FAITH: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura defeated Tomohiko Wakai/Tsurayuki Kamachi via pinfall at 16:58 following a Savage Cradle DDT. More Blind Faith Tournament action in this match that also saw the debuts of three men in an IJW ring. Wakai is a youngster who has been taken on as a trainee of IJW and put in a good showing in his IJW debut as Kamachi worked hard to protect the rookie. But ultimately the team of Sugimura and Konoe showed why even a few years experience is significant, with Konoe taking advantage of Wakai’s exuberance and putting him away with a Savage Cradle DDT. RATING: 4/10


It’s good to see IJW taking their time in building up the promotion in this time of huge recession in Japan… with rumours of EXODUS 2010 already being in financial trouble doing the rounds at the moment, it seems that IJW have adopted a better financial model that is seeing them slowly grow their fanbase in one region. The fans in attendance tonight (a record 36 of them!) got their money’s worth with another night of solid action, highlighted by the debuts of some new talent in the main event and the news that Tsurayuki Kamachi wishes to stay with the company in the long term.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Saturday, Week 4, August
IJW Blind Faith 2010 Tour Part 2
Gunma Hall: 29 in attendance

- IRON CHALLENGER: Nariaki Hitomi defeats Tomohiko Wakai via pinfall at 7:39 following a Lariat. There is little doubt as to why Wakai was signed up to be a trainee. He has the look and confidence of a champion although it’s clear he needs some work before he has the skills to match. Hitomi toyed with his challenger for a while before putting him away with a devastating Lariat, showing how ready he is for his upcoming IJW World Heavyweight Championship match with Dynamite Narahashi. RATING: 3/10
- BLIND FAITH: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji defeated Noritoshi Miura/Oda Yakuta via submission at 12:40 following a Raised Crab. Got crabs? Mizoguchi led this match for his team, relentlessly working over the knees of both opponents when he was in the ring and instructing Lion Genji to do the same. The teamwork clearly paid off as their opponents brawling was effectively neutralised, leading to Mizoguchi locking in the Raised Crab on Miura with Genji using his speed to keep Yakuta away, leading to the submission victory. RATING: 3/10
- BLIND FAITH: Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi defeated BISON Yano/Inejiro Yoshizawa via submission at 11:15 following a Takuma Crossface Submission. With the rivalry between the Apocalyse Riders and Yano/Kikuchi still bubbling away, it was clear that one of these teams were never going to get along. The IJW founder Onishi Takuma worked effectively with his tag partner while the other team were reluctant to tag each other at all. In the end, Takuma locked in the submission while Kikuchi and Yano stared each other down, allowing Takuma to pick up the win for his team. Interestingly, Yano and Kikuchi never exchanged a single offensive move with each other during the entire match. RATING: 3/10
- IRON CHALLENGER: Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated Brother Yoshiitaka via submission at 20:03 following an Inverted Sleeper. Two of IJW’s rising stars fought for twenty minutes, searching for the right opening, the right moment to strike, the right weakness to take advantage of… in a contest that could have gone either way it was Kamachi who edged out the victory, capitalising on Yoshiitaka’s missed Senton Bomb to quickly lock in an Inverted Sleeper that forced the tap out. RATING: 4/10

Kamachi moves up into the Contender’s pool near the top of the Iron Mountain, which will guarantee him a title match if he can hold onto his spot up there for long enough to get one. Another solid show from IJW that saw the singles debut of Tomohiko Wakai… the kid looks like a champion but he’s years away from being anywhere near gold if tonight’s performance is anything to go by. Even so, the main event was once again a good match… Kamachi really knows how to bring it and IJW must be thanking their lucky stars that they have him on board now that Hitomaru Suzuki has gone.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Been another fun tour from the little group who have been overshadowed in recent months by the far more prolific EXODUS 2010… but in terms of consistent quality, I think I prefer IJW. They’ve just got the big event left to go now, the inaugural Blind Faith Tournament. Here’s how they line up for the event now, kudos to my man ShadowedFlames for his guesses… but given how many he got right so far, it seems that’s all they were since he barely got half right! Try this updated bracket for some new picks, see if your luck can change.

SHOW 3: IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #1: Kaii Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka vs Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #2: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji vs Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Nariaki Hitomi
BLIND FAITH FINAL: BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #1 vs BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #2
MAIN EVENT - BLIND FAITH TOURNAMENT FINALE: Winning team face each other for an IJW World Heavyweight Championship Match!

Eat puro, drink puro, breathe puro…. Just try not to think of the consequences, it’ll probably leave your internal organs badly bruised! :D

- Robert Greene

[ShadowedFlames]

Here’s how they line up for the event now, kudos to my man ShadowedFlames for his guesses… but given how many he got right so far, it seems that’s all they were since he barely got half right! Try this updated bracket for some new picks, see if your luck can change.

- Robert Greene

Hey, I'll cop to the fact that yes, they were mainly guesses. Not ashamed to admit it. That said, I don't think many of my picks are changing....

SHOW 3: IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #1: Kaii Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka vs Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #2: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji vs Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Nariaki Hitomi
BLIND FAITH FINAL: Still going with Sugimura and Konoe
MAIN EVENT - BLIND FAITH TOURNAMENT FINALE: Still going with Sugimura, which forces Derek to lose the game. :cool:

[jtlant]

SHOW 3: IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #1: Kaii Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka vs Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #2: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji vs Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Nariaki Hitomi
BLIND FAITH FINAL: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura vs Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi
MAIN EVENT - BLIND FAITH TOURNAMENT FINALE: Taheji Konoe vs Tobei Sugimura

Wow, I'm kinda glad I missed that last round of predictions, as I would've picked Kamachi's team to go the distance. :D

Not really sure how you'll handle this one now. I don't think either Genji or Mizoguchi are ready to challenge for the title yet, so I think they're out. Takuma would be the most likely/qualified of the others, but I don't know if Kikuchi warrants a tourney title win at this stage in his career. Hanari/Yoshiitaka have some potential, but I'll go with Konoe/Sugimura to take the tourney, with Konoe beating Sugimura for the title shot. I'll be interested to see where this one goes, but I'm going to guess that my picks are waaaaay off. :D

[The Masked Orange]

I'm not gonna predict this time round, but I am gonna say that I'm loving the thread and thanks for the occasional subtle namedrop in your dynasty, it warms me to the pulp. :D

[Bigpapa42]

Put off making predictions on the last show and then missed out. Sorry. My bad. I'll make up for it now!

SHOW 3: IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #1: Kaii Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka vs Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura
BLIND FAITH SEMI FINAL #2: Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji vs Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi
IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Nariaki Hitomi
BLIND FAITH FINAL: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura vs Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi
MAIN EVENT - Taheji Konoe vs Tobei Sugimura!

[Derek B]

IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010 Results
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

More news from the IJW Blind Faith Tournament. This is the final show of the tour and will see the remaining four randomly paired teams face off in tournament action before the winning team faces each other for a shot at the IJW World Championship, which itself will be contested tonight between champion Dynamite Narahashi and challenger Nariaki Hitomi. I hope you’ve made your predictions for this most unpredictable of tournaments!

Thursday, Week 1, September
IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010
Gunma Hall: 46 in attendance

- BLIND FAITH: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura defeated Kaii Hanari/Brother Yoshiitaka via pinfall at 13:09 following a Savage Cradle DDT. It was clear going into this match that the exciting pairing of Hanari and Yoshiitaka were the crowd favourites in this one… with little to separate the sides on paper, this came down to raw aggression, something Konoe has in spades. With both sides working well together and demonstrating that they had some tag team plans, Konoe crushed Hanari’s dreams with a Savage Cradle DDT to pick up the pinfall for his team. RATING: 3/10
- BLIND FAITH: Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi defeated Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji via submission at 16:19 following a Takuma Crossface Submission. The tournament favourites on paper put in a strong showing to advance, combining their power and experience to pull out the win, although in truth their opposition worked far better as a unit. Mizoguchi tried to give his opposition crabs throughout the match but he was fended off and beaten down by powerful strikes and… more powerful offense. In the end Takuma made Lion Genji tap out to the Takuma Crossface Submission, driving him to the mat with chops while Kikuchi guarded the move well enough that Mizoguchi couldn’t make the save. RATING: 4/10
- IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Dynamite Narahashi defeated Nariaki Hitomi via pinfall at 27:20 following a Narahashi Cutter. Far and away the lengthiest match in IJW’s short history, this was a showcase of endurance and showed that Hitomi has learned a lot from each of his previous defeats at the hands of the IJW World Heavyweight champion. Both men started out slowly, deliberately avoiding making mistakes that the other could take advantage of, with each avoiding the other’s finisher early. Hitomi’s Lariat hit later in the match but the champion showed real toughness to kick out as the largest IJW crowd yet roared it’s approval. But as with every other meeting of the two, Narahashi managed to fight back and the Narahashi Cutter proved a difference maker, breaking Hitomi’s momentum once again. RATING: 4/10
- BLIND FAITH TAG FINAL: Taheji Konoe/Tobei Sugimura defeted Onishi Takuma/Brute Kikuchi via pinfall at 15:17 following a Savage Cradle DDT. Overconfidence can be a terrible thing… with the size, power and experience advantage in their favour Takuma and Kikuchi seemed to look beyond this match to when they would face off against each other. Showing ruthless aggression, Konoe and Sugimura took advantage of every opportunity to strike while the opposition failed to get on the same page. Takuma didn’t even try to break up the pinfall following the Savage Cradle DDT, so confident was he that his partner would kick out of the move. RATING: 3/10
- BLIND FAITH TOURNAMENT FINALE: With no time to take a breather, this match started off quickly with Sugimura seizing the opportunity to get the first offense in while his “partner’s” back was turned. The smaller of the two competitors fired off with as much offense as he could muster, but Konoe’s toughness shone through and his experience at dealing with pain in WEXXV started to help him. The match got violent as it swung around the ringside area before Konoe brought the match to it’s peak, with the Blind Faith Tournament trophy in his sights. Sugimura started pulling out some dropkicks but was bullied around, in the end meeting his demise when he fell victim to a Savage Cradle DDT. It only took one after the fatigue of the tournament set it, Sugimura had no answer and his shoulders were counted down for the three.

Taheji Konoe defeated Tobei Sugimura via pinfall at 8:40 following a Savage Cradle DDT. RATING: 4/10

- With the matches for the night complete, the crowd were rewarded witih Konoe’s trophy presentation ceremony. The ceremony was brief, with Tatsui Saji, IJW’s young announcer, awarding him the trophy and reminding the crowd that Konoe has not only won the trophy, but he has won the right to face Dynamite Narahashi for the IJW World Heavyweight Championship on the next tour… which allows him to skip the line and challenge even without being a top Contender.


Overall, not IJW’s best show… but that’s partly because of the random tournament format (seriously, I think it’s ACTUALLY randomly drawn) and partly because guys like Tobei Sugimura aren’t very good… and yet were around for most of the show. Personally, while I thought the action was lacking a bit I enjoyed the tournament. There were some fun teams out there and I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of some of them on the next tour, which has already been announced as being the one where IJW crown their first ever IJW World Tag Team champions.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

I’m looking forwared to more from IJW, make sure you buy their DVDs legally from their website in order to make sure they get your money. The more money they make, the better they can do and I’d really like them to succeed given the nature of the Japanese economy right now. It’s like… as low as it can get… and getting lower. Ouch!

Will probably be about 6 weeks before the details of the next tour are up and the Iron Mountain standings are publiched. Look forward to those translations when I get the chance to… translate them.

Kudos to Mssrs JTL Ant and Bigpapa42 for their predictions, they’ve been a couple of guys I’ve had the pleasure to talk puro with recently. Whether you be animal, vegetable or mineral drop me a line about all things puro and I’ll do my best to answer them just like I did these two puro experts.

- Robert Greene

[Derek B]

IJW to hold bonus show as Blind Faith winner demands immediate title match!
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Surprising news from Iron Japan Wrestling today as they announce an additional show. It doesn’t feature a lot of talent on it and is mostly matches for people to determine their rankings on the Iron Mountain… but it is a bit of a surprise. Ulterior motives perhaps? Or a kayfabe way to spark interest through surprises? You never can tell with puro companies.

Iron Japan Wrestling: Stars rally to make strides up the Iron Mountain!

Glory falls to those who will climb the mountain, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire. Such is Iron Japan Wrestling.

This has been said of the Iron Mountain since it’s inception and has been embodied by the fighting spirit and desire shown by Taheji Konoe, winner of the 2010 Blind Faith Tournament. Having earned the right to face the IJW World Heavyweight Champion, he has demanded his championship match with immediate effect, forcing Dynamite Narahashi to bend to his will. Other challengers also wish to conquer the Iron Mountain, and so they will take their first steps as the seek to replace those who have already started their climb.

SCHEDULE

IJW Here Comes A New Challenger!

IRON RANKING: Kaii Hanari vs Lion Genji
IRON RANKING: Inejiro Yoshizawa vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON RANKING: Shiba Mizoguchi vs Yusuke Takahama
MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Taheji Konoe

-----

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountain, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

So yeah… surprise move there. Hit me up with all your speculation, I’m going to go try trawling the newswire to find out the behind the scenes story of what is going on. Uh… later guys!

- Robert Greene

[MaxxHexx]

IRON RANKING: Kaii Hanari vs Lion Genji
IRON RANKING: Inejiro Yoshizawa vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON RANKING: Shiba Mizoguchi vs Yusuke Takahama
MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Taheji Konoe

I believe this show is being held on short notice due to Dynamite getting signed away from you, thus you need him to drop the belt before leaving.

[jtlant]

IJW Here Comes A New Challenger!

IRON RANKING: Kaii Hanari vs Lion Genji
IRON RANKING: Inejiro Yoshizawa vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON RANKING: Shiba Mizoguchi vs Yusuke Takahama
MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Taheji Konoe

Sounds like Narahashi is leaving. Tough break if that's the case. Konoe could have a good run though if he gets the right opponents.

[The Masked Orange]

I'm agreeing 100% with jtlant, so no need to post.

This show's either being done to drop Narahashi's title, or to transfer some overness from some tour contract guys to some ppa contract guys, and you forgot to do that.

The first option is most likely though. :)

[Historian]

IJW Here Comes A New Challenger!

IRON RANKING: Kaii Hanari vs Lion Genji
IRON RANKING: Inejiro Yoshizawa vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON RANKING: Shiba Mizoguchi vs Yusuke Takahama
MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Dynamite Narahashi © vs Taheji Konoe

Sounds like Narahashi is leaving. Tough break if that's the case. Konoe could have a good run though if he gets the right opponents.

That is my prediction exactly! Down to the T!

[Derek B]

IJW Here Comes a New Challenger! results
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Here are the results of the recent bonus show offered up by IJW to it’s expanding empire of fans. Seems that some of you guys may have been right after all, as I’ll explain later…


Thursday, Week 1, September
IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010
Gunma Hall: 46 in attendance

- IRON RANKING: Lion Genji defeated Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 8:46 following a Fusion Reactor. Hanari was looking to take his place on the Iron Mountain with a victory but Genji pulled out the victory in this battle of the young lions. A good showing for the two youngsters, but Hanari now has to start from the bottom if he wants to work his way to the top of the mountain. RATING: 3/10
- IRON RANKING: Tobei Sugimura defeated Inejiro Yoshizawa via pinfall at 8:54 following a roll up. There was an obvious size difference in this one as Yoshizawa outweighed his challenger by a clear 60 pounds. He was in control for most of the match and looked to end the match with an End Of The World, only for Sugimura’s charmed IJW career to continue as he pulled out a roll-up from nowhere and keep the shoulders down for a three. Something of an upset, Sugimura takes his place near the middle of the rankings in what was honestly a terrible match. RATING: 2/10
- IRON RANKING: Yusuke Takahama defeated Shiba Mizoguchi via pinfall at 13:12 following a Super Backdrop Suplex. For two men with relatively weak reputations, Takahama and Mizoguchi almost stole the show with this match. The Crab Master tried his hardest to give Takahama all kinds of crabs but the former baseball star-turned- pro wrestler showed how far he has come in his few years in the sport, picking up the clean win over his larger opponent and cementing himself a position near the top of the Iron Mountain, perhaps close to securing himself a Challenger shot. RATING: 4/10
- IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: There were many rumours heading into this match that Narahashi, the champion, was leaving Iron Japan Wrestling. Konoe, fresh off his victory in the first annual Blind Faith Tournament came out swinging in this one, wrestling with a fierce intensity that forced Narahashi to use every trick he had to stall for time and try to evade the onslaught. Narahashi, always using his brain to turn things in his favour even hit a Narahashi Cutter on the floor that almost gave him a count out win and really riled up the crowd. But in the end, he tried to hit his patented finisher inside the ring but was blocked, and an intense Taheji Konoe forcefully executed a Savage Cradle DDT to pick up the three count.

Taheji Konoe defeated Dynamite Narahashi via pinfall at 20:48 following a Savage Cradle DDT. RATING: 4/10

- With the crowd hot off the title change and Konoe looking drained after a tough match, the show ended with the champion celebrating his win with the fans, though most notably a few of the IJW wrestlers came out to have some words with the champion including Tobei Sugimura (his tag partner from Blind Faith) and Onishi Takuma, the founder of the company. We don’t know what was said or what implications it may have on the future.

In terms of match quality, there were a couple of not particularly good matches on this show but it was trumped by two good matches that made up for it. A new champion was crowned here tonight as Taheji Konoe defeated Dynamite Narahashi to climb to the top of the Iron Mountain on the back of his Blind Faith tournament win…

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

… but knowing that Dynamite Narahashi is off to the Hinote Dojo, the place he began his career in a bid to get back into the BHOTWG program. With new management in charge there in the form of Tetsuzan Kaneko, it seems that Narahashi is getting a second look in. He’s a good talent who has proven that he has what it takes to run with the ball… it might not have been a very big ball, but the IJW ball was worth having and he’s now on his way up again.

In terms of booking though, I like that they tried to hide the fact that they were forced into this show by booking all their unranked contenders in matches. I was convinced even if no-one else seemed to be, I guess us smarks are mostly too cynical to be fooled by logical booking, even if it would be nicer to suspend disbelief for a while and just buy into the false reality. I'm looking at you guys, especially Historian, Mr Lant, MaxxHexx and the hooded citrus man himself. :p

Anywho, Iron Japan Wrestling will be back on tour again soon which means we can look forward to an updated rankings list and a new champion on top of the mountain. There should be some IJW tag belts coming up soon so I reckon they will be decided on the next tour. Will there be new tag teams created? Will some Blind Faith pairings re-unite for a run at the gold? Will there be a change of plans like there was on this tour and the tag titles pushed back? Stay tuned to my puro news for all you need to know!

- Robert Greene

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+ “Wrecking Ball” Taro Shinoya called up to BHOTWG… does the wild brawler have any chance in the big leagues?
+ Gakusha trumps Kudo in amazing 45 minute GCG title match!
+ BHOTWG hyping up debut of youngster Omezo Shikitei
+ Masutato Kataoka “I’m ready for my PGHW debut, I’ve waited a lifetime and now is my chance to shine!”
+ Goldrush in GCG! Hyobanshi dethrones Gakusha for GCG title! Cox defeats Coleman for Openweight belt!
+ Eagle Kawasawa talks about his dream BHOTWG move and how it feels to compete in heavyweight division
+ EXODUS 2010 in massive debt, Ogiwara reports that “the fans enjoyed our shows, but sadly did not come to the events as hoped”
+ What were EX2010’s best moments? Takemitsu vs Yakuta feud for the gold wins fan poll!


Iron Japan Wrestling unveil plans for new tour, will crown first tag team champions
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Another day, another news story. Rather than looking at the wealth of talent mving up to the big leagues, or even the “news” of some of the lesser known talents hanging up their boots… or even the imminent death of another promotion in Japan as EXODUS 2010’s fiscal failures bite them in the ass… today is a look at Iron Japan Wrestling, the lesser acclaimed promotion that can and will!

Today they have released the details of their upcoming tour and their plans to crown their first ever tag team champions with a handful of shows. They may not be as intensive in terms of shows but their shows are enjoyable and worth looking at, not to mention they’ll probably still be around in 6 months time. Here’s a loosely translated transcript of their release for you all to enjoy.


IRON JAPAN WRESTLING: SHARED VISIONS TOUR

The Iron Mountain has a new lord at it’s summit, as the Blind Faith winner Taheji Konoe dethroned former champion Dynamite Narahashi from the summit by showing true fire and passion. Narahashi had expected to have months to prepare for his challenger but Konoe did not wait, instead grabbing destiny by the horns to lay seige to the summit and claim the IJW World Heavyweight Championship.

Lining up to face him are a medley of journeymen, each hoping to complete their journey to the top of the mountain though each must first face the trials and tribulations ahead of them first. The call of the Iron Mountain lures many men, but it’s slopes are hazardous and one missed step can set you back a long way. Sometimes enlisting the help of others is the only way to reach the peak, and as such Iron Japan Wrestling will crown it’s first ever IJW World Tag Team champions, as pairs of challengers work together to prove that teamwork can overcome all.

Seeking to reach the top of the Twin Peaks are four teams, some of which are no strangers to the Iron Mountain. The powerful team of Brute Kikuchi and BISON Yano seek to overwhelm their competition, while their rivals the Apocalyse Riders seek to reach the top ahead of them. Emerging from the Blind Faith tournament are the team of Shibo Mizoguchi and Lion Genji, thrown together by fate and bonding as a team. And finally are a pairing who fought opposite each other and found mutual respect as Brother Yoshiitaka and Yusuke Takahama begin to forge their own bond. Over the tour they will compete in a tournament, with the final match up crowning IJW World Tag Team champions, sitting at the Twin Peaks of their own mountain.

The Iron Mountain’s new conqueror will face a challenge from one of his contenders, who will engage in battle among themselves to decide who will first challenge the summit. Below them come more challengers, each looking to progress up the mountain in their own way. The draw of the Iron Mountain now extends beyond Japan as the son of a legend makes his way around the world. Cameron Vessey will begin his climb up the mountain, prepared by his family for the tough climb ahead.

THE IRON MOUNTAIN

A “W” signifies a recent significant victory. A “L” signifies a recent significant loss. A “D” signifies a recent draw. The most recent result is on the left hand side. Only the 5 most recent significant results are shown.

IJW World Heavyweight Champion: Taheji Konoe

Top Contenders
WL - Onishi Takuma
WLW - Tsurayuki Kamachi
LWW - Nariaki Hitomi

The Iron Mountain
WL - Oda Yakuta
LLW - Brother Yoshiitaka
W - Yusuke Takahama
LW - Shiba Mizoguchi
LWW - Noritoshi Miura
LLW - Brute Kikuchi
LL - BISON Yano
W - Tobei Sugmiura
WL - Lion Genji
L - Inejiro Yoshizawa
L - Musashi
L - Tomohiko Wakai
LL - Kaii Hanari

New Challengers
- Cameron Vessey


CHALLENGERS

BISON Yano - Standing 6’6 and weighing 290 pounds, BISON is one of the most powerful men in wrestling today. His most devastating technique, the Yano Express boot, and his team with fellow powerhouse Brute Kikuchi will certainly be a big threat to the IJW World Tag Team titles on this tour.
Brother Yoshiitaka – A middleweight with a wide array of skills, Yoshiitaka has already proven himself to be quite the competitor. More than capable of throwing his weight around to use his body as an offensive weapon, his enviable versatility is now going to be put to the test with his new tag team partner Yusuke Takahama as they seek to become the first ever IJW World Tag Team champions.
Brute Kikuchi – The largest man in Iron Japan Wrestling at 6’9 and 303 pounds, Akira “Brute” Kikuchi who will look to use his Kikuchi Crush to put opponents away. He regularly teams with BISON Yano and has a blossoming rivalry forming with the Apocalypse Riders tag team. Will be in tag team tournament action on this tour hoping to win the gold.
Cameron Vessey – A second generation superstar with a fine pedigree, Cameron Vessey is the son of the legendary Larry Vessey and nephew of Bryan. The Vessey Brothers have long standing reputations for excellence and Cameron is no exception, proving himself to Rip Chord in his own promotion. The young Vessey now seeks to climb the Iron Mountain and prove himself on his own, starting with a challenging bout against Lion Genji.
Inejiro Yoshizawa (Spirit of the Lizard) – Best known as a tag team wrestler with Noritoshi Miura, Inejiro has demonstrated potential to be a singles star too. Buliding his reputation in IJW in both singles and tag team competition, he is part of a developing tag team rivalry with Yano & Kikuchi that may once again be on the front burner as both teams look for tag team gold.
Kaii Hanari – Currently residing at the foot of the Iron Mountain, Hanari is an energetic youngster with a bright future in the Junior division when that is established. For now, he seeks to improve his standing and gain ring experience.
Lion Genji – At aged just 20 years old, Lion Genji is very much a young lion out to prove himself. Inexperience is his greatest enemy, though every contest is a learning experience and he has shown considerable skill. He was teamed with Shiba Mizoguchi in the Blind Faith tournament and their team has continued on to challenge for the IJW World Tag Team championships.
Musashi – Just 18 years old, standing 5’9 and weighing 170 pounds, this young man does not seem to know his own size as he demands to fight in the heavyweight division. A dangerous opponent when he gets going, he has yet to gain enough experience to put his undoubted skills to good use. Will face his first Junior sized test on this tour in the form of Tobei Sugimura, who has impressed so far in his stay with IJW.
Nariaki Hitomi – Every time he came up against Dynamite Narahashi he met with bitter disappointment and defeat. Now seeking to once again prove himself as a contender he must first defeat Tsurayuki Kamachi and then Onishi Takuma if he wishes to challenge the champion at the end of the tour.
Noritoshi Miura (Spirit of the Shark) – One half of the Apocalypse Riders, Miura has largely disappointed in tournament action. Now teamed with his regular partner once again, he will be looking to make significant improvements and see his team walk away from the tour as IJW World Tag Team champions.
Oda Yakuta – This athletic heavyweight has shown himself to be a highly promising talent who’s reputation so far has been built with the defunct INSPIRE organisation. Known for his hard hitting brawling style, Oda has found himself close to a Contender’s spot for a while now and has a chance to get himself into position if he can pick up a win over IJW founder Onishi Takuma.
Onishi Takuma – The founder of IJW, Onishi Takuma fell short in the Blind Faith tournament when he failed to demonstrate good teamwork with his partner Brute Kikuchi. With a new champion sitting atop the Iron Mountain, Takuma faces some tough challengers on his quest to earn an IJW World Heavyweight Championship match against Taheji Konoe in this tour’s big finale.
Shiba Mizoguchi – A technical grappler who likes to focus his offense on the legs, “The Crab Master” has taken a shine to Lion Genji with whom he was paired in the Blind Faith Tournament. Their tag team has continued after their exit from the event, and now with more time to work together they hope to mount a serious challenge to the IJW World Tag Team titles.
Taheji Konoe – The winner of the Blind Faith tournament and the new IJW World Heavyweight champion, Konoe’s team with Tobei Sugimura proved to be a smash hit. The two ambitious youngsters overcame the odds together and then had a hard hitting finale bout that springboarded Konoe to the top of the mountain. With the challengers lining up to face the youngster, Konoe will now be tested on his ability to handle pressure as everyone wants to take his place at the top of the mountain.
Tobei Sugmiura – Making it all the way to the finale fo the Blind Faith tournament, Tobei has surprised many with his success so far in IJW. A Junior known for his blue hair, many had written him off as a long shot and yet he now stands high up the Iron Mountain with some solid performances under his belt. With a little more time, he may yet prove to be one of IJW’s most under-rated young stars.
Tomohiko Wakai - This young heavyweight grappler is a graduate of the Tokyo Wrestling Dojo who has joined IJW as a trainee. With almost no experience, Wakai is described by his trainers as “a dedicated student of the gym who has a good grasp of the fundamentals of wrestling”. With only a handful of matches to his name he is looking to gain experience before he can realistically expect to make progress up the Iron Mountain.
Tsurayuki Kamachi – One of the brightest prospects in Japan, Kamachi got his basic training with the PGHW youth ranks and cemented his young reputation with INSPIRE. Whether wrestling on the mat or striking on his feet, Kamachi is proving to be one of the most exciting competitors that IJW has to offer. Seeking to earn the first shot at Taheji Konoe’s newly won title, Kamachi must first go through Nariaki Hitomi and Onishi Takuma if he is to achieve his goal.
Yusuke Takahama – Since making the switch from baseball to wrestling, Takahama has had to endure a tough path. Few believed he would be tough enough to endure the basic training and yet he did, and with several years experience behind him now he has matured into an excellent Junior competitor. Coming to the Iron Mountain to further prove himself, he has bonded well in battle with Brother Yoshiitaka with who he will be competing in the IJW World Tag Team title tournament, with a view to laying claim to the gold.

SCHEDULE

SHOW 1: IJW Vision Tour Part 1
IRON: Kaii Hanari vs Tomohiko Wakai
TAG SEMI-FINAL: Brute Kikuchi/BISON Yano vs Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji
IRON: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
MAIN EVENT IRON CONTENDERSHIP BATTLE: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi

SHOW 2: IJW Vision Tour Part 2
IRON: Musashi vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON CHALLENGER: Cameron Vessey vs Lion Genji
TAG SEMI FINAL: The Apocalypse Riders vs Brother Yoshiitaka/Yusuke Takahama
MAIN EVENT IRON CONTENDERSHIP BATTLE: Onish Takuma vs Winner of Kamachi/Hitomi

TOUR FINALE: IJW Shared Visions

MAIN EVENT: Taheji Konoe defends the IJW World Heavyweight Championship
TWIN PEAKS: Vacant IJW World Tag Team titles will be claimed.
PLUS: Contendership battles and other challengers seeking to climb the Iron Mountain in singles action!

-----

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountain, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

Lots of flowery language as ever and for once they haven’t pre-destined every part of the tour. Seems I’ll get a big update to post after the first couple of nights with an updated card for the tour finale. It’s exciting to see them bring in Cam Vessey… not so muhc for his talent (which he does have) but more because it’s the first non-Japanese guy they’ve had on the roster. The fact that they can start bringing in outside talent is the first step towards them showing they are making money… or that they’re blowing money.

Either way, I’ll be checking it out. Perhaps they brought him in because they saw that everyone who bought their DVDs also bought MAW shows? Anywho, keep supporting indy wrestling, it’s where you see the starts of tomorrow TODAY!! :D

- Robert Greene

[MaxxHexx]

SHOW 1: IJW Vision Tour Part 1
IRON: Kaii Hanari vs Tomohiko Wakai
TAG SEMI-FINAL: Brute Kikuchi/BISON Yano vs Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji
IRON: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
MAIN EVENT IRON CONTENDERSHIP BATTLE: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi

SHOW 2: IJW Vision Tour Part 2
IRON: Musashi vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON CHALLENGER: Cameron Vessey vs Lion Genji
TAG SEMI FINAL: The Apocalypse Riders vs Brother Yoshiitaka/Yusuke Takahama
MAIN EVENT IRON CONTENDERSHIP BATTLE: Onish Takuma vs Winner of Kamachi/Hitomi

TOUR FINALE: IJW Shared Visions

MAIN EVENT: Taheji Konoe defends the IJW World Heavyweight Championship
TWIN PEAKS: Vacant IJW World Tag Team titles will be claimed.
PLUS: Contendership battles and other challengers seeking to climb the Iron Mountain in singles action!

[Historian]

SHOW 1: IJW Vision Tour Part 1
IRON: Kaii Hanari vs Tomohiko Wakai
TAG SEMI-FINAL: Brute Kikuchi/BISON Yano vs Shiba Mizoguchi/Lion Genji
IRON: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
MAIN EVENT IRON CONTENDERSHIP BATTLE: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Nariaki Hitomi

SHOW 2: IJW Vision Tour Part 2
IRON: Musashi vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON CHALLENGER: Cameron Vessey vs Lion Genji
TAG SEMI FINAL: The Apocalypse Riders vs Brother Yoshiitaka/Yusuke Takahama
MAIN EVENT IRON CONTENDERSHIP BATTLE: Onish Takuma vs Winner of Kamachi/Hitomi

Well darn it, Hexx, you have the exact same match picks as I do.

[Yuu Onuki]

I love the enthusiasm tone of this diary. It has great energy. :)

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+ Steve Frehley to CGC, former SWF champion quashes rumours of Japanese tour
+ PGHW call up new class of SAISHO students including Tornado Nagai and Goemon Komiya
+ Miwa & Kwakami win PGHW Elite Tag Series, Kwakami makes PRIDE Koiso tap out in finals of amazing tournament!
+ EXODUS 2010 close their doors, citing lack of finances as main reason for closing
+ BREAKING NEWS: Akinori Kwakami submits PRIDE Koiso for the second time, wins first PGHW Glory Crown!


Iron Japan Wrestling: Shared Vision Tour Results + Card for Finale
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

With the death of EXODUS 2010, the Japanese wrestling media have finally started turning their attention to IJW as a viable micro indy promotion that might actually have a chance of succeeding. There has been some talk of what can they do to separate themselves from the big companies since they largely come across as a lite version of them… but that just means that the journalists haven’t looked closely enough at the press releases yet. Here are the tour results so far, details of their tour finale at the end, which will also mark the end of their first year of business. A whole year, that’s siz months more than EXODUS managed!

Thursday, Week 3, November
IJW Vision Tour Part 1
Gunma Hall: 50 in attendance

- IRON: Tomohiko Wakai defeated Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 6:31 following a powerbomb. Wakai didn’t look too troubled in this match, using his size advantage to pick up the victory as Hanari struggled to find any ways to get his opponent off his feet. Solid outing for the two youngsters. RATING: 2/10
- TAG TEAM SEMI FINAL: Yano & Kikuchi defeated Mizoguchi/Genji via pinfall at 10:40 following a Stereo Chokeslam. Showing some good teamwork, both sides knew roughly what to look out for in their opponents. Kikuchi seemed determined to avoid his side submitting and broke up every attempt Mizoguchi made to give his side crabs with the utmost haste. With Mizoguchi brained from too many headshots while failing to apply submissions, the powerful young tag team delivered a brutal Stereo Chokeslam to Lion Genji who was powerless to kick out. Yano & Kikuchi advance to a shot at the IJW World Tag Team titles, and will find out who their opponents will be on the next show. RATING: 3/10
- IRON: Onishi Takuma defeated Oda Yakuta via referee stoppage at 15:17 following a Neverending Mounted Palm Thrust. A bitter defeat for Yakuta in this match as he had the veteran on the ropes for so long, constantly keeping him on the back foot with his ferocious offensive barrage. But Takuma’s experience allowed him to weather the storm, fighting back and finally getting the mount for a long series of palm thrusts. Yakuta wouldn’t quit, but the referee took matters into his own hands when he saw that Yakuta was no longer able to defend himself afainst the blows. RATING: 3/10
- IRON CONTENDER: Nariaki Hitomi defeated Tsurayuki Kamachi via pinfall at 19:16 following the Lariat. Contrasting styles but exciting action as two excellent young athletes threw everything they had at each other for close to 20 minutes. Kamachi had the edge in technique but Hitomi kept throwing strikes no matter where he was. With Kamachi unable to get a submission on the mat the fight went standing where the two warriors traded suplexes, ending when Hitomi fired up and almost beheaded Kamachi with a Lariat that rose the roof and takes him one step closer to a shot at the IJW World Heavyweight championship held by Taheji Konoe. RATING: 4/10
- POST SHOW: Nariaki Hitomi used the house microphone to talk to the crowd about facing Onishi Takuma on the way to his chance to become IJW World Heavyweight champion.

One of IJW’s best matches yet in the main event turned this from being an average-at-best show into perhaps one of their best yet. Kamachi has so far proven to be perhaps IJW’s finest asset in terms of delivering match quality and it was interesting to see IJW try a live promo for their fans, even if a distinctly breathless Nariaki Hitomi may not have been in the best condition to deliver it. A prelude to something more perhaps? Anywho, good show from IJW, I’d rate it among their top ones so far thanks to a highly enjoyable main event match.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10



Thursday, Week 4, November
IJW Vision Tour Part 2
Gunma Hall: 43 in attendance

- IRON: Tobei Sugimura defeated Musashi via pinfall at 8:24 following a quick roll up. For the first time Musashi wasn’t giving up a lot of size in an IJW match, and he made a point of showing how good he was with a fast and furious attack. Unleashing a devastating array of kicks and some exciting high flying offense, Tobei’s offensive tactics were to slow things down at every chance. With Musashi looking to end things with a big roundhouse kick, Tobei ducked and pulled out a quick roll up that was enough to continue his unexpected IJW successes. RATING:2/10
- IRON CHALLENGER: Cameron Vessey defeated Lion Genji via pinfall at 9:28 following the Vessey Driver. Vessey made his Japanese debut in this match and showed that he has inherited much of the fine Vessey skills in this match. Genji was no push over either, matching Vessey throughout the contest but in the end the young second generation star pulled out a move from his uncle’s arsenal, hitting a Vessey Driver to seal a debut victory. RATING: 4/10
- TAG TEAM SEMI FINAL: Brother Yoshiitaka/Yusuke Takahama defeated The Apocalypse Riders via pinfall at 10:13 following a Shaolin Powerbomb. In what many would consider to be an upset, the pairing of Yoshiitaka and Takahama hit this match like duel whirlwinds, setting a fast pace and hoping to exhaust their larger opponents. The plan worked, with the aerial aces taking to the skies with some big moves that ultimately led to the opening for Yoshiitaka to hit the Shaolin Poweromb on Inejiro Yoshizawa to pick up the surprise victory. RATING: 3/10
- IRON CONTENDERSHIP: Onishi Takuma defeated Nariaki Hitomi via submission at 24:31 following a Takuma Crossface Submission. An excellent back and forth match saw both men dig deep to prove themselves worthy of an IJW World Heavyweight title match. Both men kept the match standing and tried to pick their spots with hard hitting strikes. Both men used their favourite finishing techniques but failed to end the match with them, with Hitomi’s Lariat proving to not be quite enough to keep Takuma down while Takuma couldn’t keep Hitomi in the middle of the ring long enough to force a submission. Hitomi pulled an advantage and tried to hit a second Lariat but Takuma countered straight into the Takuma Crossface Submission, and with almost 25 minutes of hard hitting action passed, Hitomi simply didn’t have the energy left to get to the ropes and tapped out. RATING: 4/10


Awesome to see Cam Vessey make his Japanese debut, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him in the big leagues there one day as he’s a highly skilled young man and had an excellent match against one of IJW’s young lions here. Match of the night was the lengthy main event match that saw Takuma secure himself another title match, though surprise of the night goes to the tag result. Takahama and Yoshiitaka looked great, firing on all cylinders in their match and the result surprised most people. Certainly makes me have to throw my own predictions out and think long and hard about what’s going to happen on the finale. Good show here too, another solid effort from the fledgling organisation.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

And that leaves one more card for IJW to blow off their debut year in what has been an exciting year of puroresu. They have totally stacked up the card for this one, using every active member of their roster… let’s hope they can actually afford to and they aren’t going to go the same route that EXODUS 2010 did, burning a little bit before setting off the fire alam and causing all kinds of hassle for the neighbours.

TOUR FINALE: IJW Shared Visions

MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Taheji Konoe © vs Onishi Takuma
IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Brute Kikuchi & BISON Yano vs Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama
IRON CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Shiba Mizoguchi
IRON CONTENDER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Oda Yakuta
IRON: Cameron Vessey vs Tobei Sugimura
TAG: The Apocalypse Riders vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
IRON: Musashi vs Lion Genji

As always, predictions are more than welcome. I love to talk puro, so if you’ve got any questions them send them my way. Man, woman or citrus… I’ve got time for you all! :D

- Robert Greene

[MaxxHexx]

MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Taheji Konoe © vs Onishi Takuma
IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Brute Kikuchi & BISON Yano vs Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama
IRON CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Shiba Mizoguchi
IRON CONTENDER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Oda Yakuta
IRON: Cameron Vessey vs Tobei Sugimura
TAG: The Apocalypse Riders vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
IRON: Musashi vs Lion Genji

[jtlant]

TOUR FINALE: IJW Shared Visions

MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Taheji Konoe © vs Onishi Takuma
IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Brute Kikuchi & BISON Yano vs Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama
IRON CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Shiba Mizoguchi
IRON CONTENDER: Nariaki Hitomi vs Oda Yakuta
IRON: Cameron Vessey vs Tobei Sugimura
TAG: The Apocalypse Riders vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
IRON: Musashi vs Lion Genji

[Derek B]

IJW Shared Visions Results, first ever tag team champions crowned
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

A big tour finale from IJW, really looking to capitalise on the spotlight they’ve taken from the death of EXODUS 2010 and capitalise on it for the future. Seems like they had everyone in action tonight and with their biggest crowd yet, they actually seemed to have some atmosphere for a change. With the Iron Man Tournament fast approaching once more, they’ll be looking to try and sell out the Gunma Hall for the finals of that!

Thursday, Week 1, September
IJW The Blind Faith Tournament 2010
Gunma Hall: 46 in attendance


- IRON: Musashi defeated Lion Genji via pinfall at 8:41 following Buzzsaw Kick. Two of IJW’s young lions battled hard in this one, with Genji trying to control the pace from the outset by throwing dangerous kicks that kept Genji on his toes. Despite the size difference this was a very even match, and Musashi’s massive headkick to Genji proved to be enough to get hisfirst singles win in IJW after Genji missed with a takedown. Explosive finish! RATING: 2/10
- TWIN PEAKS: The Apocalypse Riders defeated Tomohiko Wakai/Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 10:55 following The End Of The World. Two youngsters fresh from facing off against each other tried teaming together here but found themselves overwhelmed against the more experienced team. Despite a valiant effort, Hanari fell to the End of the World. RATING: 2/10
- IRON: Cameron Vessey defeated Tobei Sugimura via pinfall at 12:52 following a Sick Cycle. Vessey won his second match on the Iron Mountain, this time borrowing a move from his father’s move set to do so. Tobei’s impressive momentum wasn’t enough to get him the win in this one as Vessey showed his pedigree skills, although Tobei’s speed almost managed to sneak him the upset win a couple of times. RATING: 3/10
- IRON CONTENDER: Nariaki Hitomi defeated Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 17:19 following a Lariat. A hard hitting contest between two heavyweights, this match was not a pretty display of technique but more a wild display of fire and aggression. Both men left their marks on each other with their hard hitting offense, but Hitomi’s Lariat proved to be the difference maker as he almost beheaded Yakuta on his way to victory. RATING: 3/10
- IRON CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated Shiba Mizoguchi via submission at 19:32 following an Inverted Sleeper. Kamachi made his way to the ring wrapped in the Japanese flag, getting the crowd going for this fine battle. Both men came in with similar gameplans in mind, soften up the other with strikes for lots of submission attempts. Mizoguchi’s crabs proved difficult for Kamachi to counter, but he found a way, concentrating his offense on the head and neck leading to a series of submissions being exchanged and an Inverted Sleeper thatMizoguchi couldn’t escape. Great stuff! RATING: 4/10
- IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Such an unpredictable match with so many variables… one team is young, powerful and has worked together for a while, the other were in only their second match together but with years of pro experience behind them. The match momentum went back and forth many times, as speed outquicked power only for power to overwhelm speed. Neither side wanted to lose this chance to cement their legacy in Iron Japan Wrestling but someone had to… and with all the big offense thrown at each other, Brother Yoshiitaka took advantage of his partner fighting with Yano to hit a Shaolin Powerbomb on Kikuchi, stacking all his weight over his own shoulders to get a pinfall and claim the IJW World Tag Team titles for himself and Takahama in only their second match together.

Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama defeated Bison Yano & Brute Kikuchi via pinfall at 12:49 following a Shaolin Powerbomb. RATING: 3/10

- MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: In front of the largest IJW crowd to date, Takuma and Konoe put everything on the line to create IJW’s best match to date too. Making his first title defense since defeating Dynamite Narahashi on the back of his Blind Faith win, Konoe looked fired up and excited to face the IJW founder for the gold. Takuma set a slow pace, using his years of experience to get the upperhand on an aggressive champion and the match was a series of back and forth ebbs and flows as Takuma shut down the champ’s offense and tried to wear him down by working on the arms.

Takuma looked to have victory in his sights as the strike battles commenced and Konoe’s shots seemed less powerful than normal but a change of tack saw Konoe surge into control with some furious, animalistic offense that the crowd loved. Takuma almost seemed lost but eventually locked in a Takuma Crossface Submission that had the champ in trouble, but he made it to the ropes. Takuma sensed victory but Konoe exploded into the driver’s seat once more and topped off a furious barrage of offense with a Savage Cradle DDT that not even the tough veteran Takuma could kick out of.

Taheji Konoe defeated Onishi Takuma via pinfall at 23:05 following a Savage Cradle DDT. RATING: 5/10


I feel like I’ve been pretty harsh on the match ratings, in truth several of the matches could easily have been graded a little higher if I’d been in a better mood when reviewing the show (don’t ask!). The main event blew away everything else anyway though, a truly top rate match for a company the size of IJW that made both the champ and challenger look like stars even in a half empty hall. All in all, IJW really stepped up their game with this show in front of their biggest crowd to date and that means that they should keep performing well. Easily their best all round show so far, the entire roster worked hard to prove a point to the Japanese wrestling industry as a whole. Small promotions CAN succeed!

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Barring any more surprises that should be IJW’s last show for the year, sending it out with a proper bang. While I doubt they are going to feature heavily on any year end awards lists, in fact I doubt anyone on their roster will even be at the bottom end of the PWI Power 100 for the year, they’ve been fun. Awards season begins soon, stay tuned to the site for news on all the movers and shakers lest Onishi Takuma come around to your house and chop down your tree…. with his hands!

- Robert Greene

[Derek B]

ProWrestlingHits.com/japan

+ Munemitsu Senmatsu walks out on WEXXV for a chance with PGHW! Ryu Kajahara said to be furious!
+ Burning EXILE wrestling through fractured cheekbone in PGHW
+ KitoGuchi defeat Muruyama & Ugaki for the PGHW Glory Tag Crown!
+ Promising youngster Nariaki Hitomi signs on to train full time in the Hinote Dojo


MAIN STORY: Quick PWHits Year End Awards 2010
by PWHits

PWI recently released it’s year end awards for 2010, with some expected winners and losers. Here are the winners and the top 10 for those who are interested.

10. PRIDE KOISO (PGHW)
9. Joey Minnesota (TCW)
8. Nobuatsu Tatsuko (PGHW)
7. Bryan Vessey (TCW)
6. Tommy Cornell (TCW)
5. Sean McFly (NOTBPW)
4. Dan Stone Jr (NOTBPW)
3. Johnny Bloodstone (NOTBPW)
2. Steve DeColt (NOTBPW)
1. Jeremy Stone (NOTBPW)

Wrestler of the Year: Jeremy Stone (NOTBPW)
Young Wrestler of the Year: Wolf Hawkins (TCW)
Veteran Wrestler of the Year: Haruki Kudo (GCG)
Female Wrestler of the Year: Yuyuko Higa (5SSW)
Promotion of the Year: Supreme Wrestling Federation
Most Improved Promotion of the Year: World Level Wrestling
Match of the Year: Johnny Bloodstone and Sean McFly defeated Dan Stone Jr and Jeremy Stone on NOTBPW Championship Wrestling (Week 2, February)
Card of the Year: NOTBPW Nirvana in November

SWF’s global expansion seems to be the only thing keeping them as the top promotion in the world at this time, most obviously highlighted by their top wrestler only managing to come in at #22 as Rich Money proves, at least to the people who give out awards, that he is SWF’s crown jewel. Hopefully he unseats Remo as World champion and steers SWF the right way, it would be weird if TCW started outdoing the SWF in every department and they’re starting to get close to that point.

A new year has dawned on pro wrestling… for more details on the awards and a full ranking of the top 100, check out the PWI website!

[Derek B]

+ Hirokumi Saito called up to PGHW
+ Hitomaro Suzuki to make full debut for BHOTWG


IJW prepare for The Iron Man Tournament 2011, full details inside
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

With WLW and GCG both proving themselves to be real promotions in Japan now, I pretty much have no choice bu to consider IJW to be my favourite Japanese indy promotion just now. Debuting just 12 months ago with their Iron Man Tournament tour, they bring in the new year with some fresh new signings and the return of the Iron Man Tournament. Last year’s winner Dynamite Narahashi was not only declared The Iron Man but he was also crowned the IJW World Heavyweight champion as a result of his victory in the tournament. This year is a little different, so with the details I send you over to a translated transcript of the IJW press release complete with rankings and stuff.


IRON JAPAN WRESTLING presents THE IRON MAN TOURNAMENT 2011

Iron Japan Wrestling was founded on the strengths of warriors, each seeking to prove themselves to be the best as they fought their way to the to of the Iron Mountain. In 2010, Dynamite Narahashi was victorious in the inaugural Iron Man Tournament, laying claim to the trophy as well as the vacant IJW World Heavyweight Championship by showing his toughness, desire, heart and fighting spirit.

In 2011 the trophy will once again be awarded to the winner of the Iron Man Tournament and will once again go on to face the IJW World Heavyweight champion as a reward for their glory. The tournament this year extends further around the world as challengers arrive from the United Kingdom and the Ivory Coast, adding to the American and Japanese challengers already climbing the Iron Mountain. The field of competition grows stronger and more diverse by the day, with 19 challengers entered into the tournament this year while the top contender Tsurayuki Kamachi goes on to face the IJW World Heavyweight champion Taheji Konoe at the summit of the mountain at this tour’s finale. The departure of Nariaki Hitomi from the Iron Mountain also frees up space near the top of the mountain in a match that will pit two allies against each other as they seek to further their singles careers.

Also in action on the tour will be the newly crowned IJW World Tag Team champions Brother Yoshiitaka and Yusuke Takahama, determined to show that their new bonds will turn them into a formiddable duo by defending their championships on this tour. With the likes of Yano & Kikuchi, The Apocalypse Riders and the newly arrived duo of The Wigan Warriors (Merle O’Curle and Nigel Svensson) all seeking to lay their hands on the gold, this tour will not be an easy one for the champs to retain, especially as they also compete in the Iron Man Tournament.

Below are the complete rankings for the Iron Mountain and the Twin Peaked Mountain going into the tour, with details of each challenger and the challenges they will face.

<hr>

THE IRON MOUNTAIN

A “W” signifies a recent significant victory. A “L” signifies a recent significant loss. A “D” signifies a recent draw. The most recent result is on the left hand side. Only the 5 most recent significant results are shown.

IJW World Heavyweight Champion: Taheji Konoe

Top Contenders
WLWLW - Tsurayuki Kamachi
LWWWL - Onishi Takuma
(vacant)

The Iron Mountain
W - Yusuke Takahama
LLW - Brother Yoshiitaka
LLWL - Oda Yakuta
LWW - Noritoshi Miura
LLW - Shiba Mizoguchi
LLW - Brute Kikuchi
WW - Cameron Vessey
LWW - Tobei Sugmiura
LL - BISON Yano
L - Inejiro Yoshizawa
WLL - Musashi
LLWL - Lion Genji
WL - Tomohiko Wakai
LLL - Kaii Hanari

New Challengers

- Kalu Owusu
- Merle O’Curle
- Nigel Svensson
- Wasichi Inao


THE TWIN PEAKED MOUNTAIN

IJW World Tag Team Champions: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama

Top Contenders
L – Brute Kikuchi & BISON Yano
WL – The Apocalypse Riders (Inejiro Yoshizawa & Noritoshi Miura)
L – Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji

The Twin Peaked Mountain

L – Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari

New Challengers

- Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura
- The Wigan Warriors (Merle O’Curle & Nigel Svensson)

<hr>

CHALLENGERS

BISON Yano - Standing 6’6 and weighing 290 pounds, BISON is one of the most powerful men in wrestling today. His most devastating technique, the Yano Express boot, and his team with fellow powerhouse Brute Kikuchi will certainly be a big threat to the IJW World Tag Team titles on this tour while also competing in the Iron Man Tournament.
Brother Yoshiitaka – A middleweight with a wide array of skills, Yoshiitaka has already proven himself to be quite the competitor. More than capable of throwing his weight around to use his body as an offensive weapon, his enviable versatility is now going to be put to the test as he must face of with his co-champion Yusuke Takahama to earn Contendership status while also competing in the Iron Man Tournament and defending the IJW World Tag Team titles.
Brute Kikuchi – The largest man in Iron Japan Wrestling at 6’9 and 303 pounds, Akira “Brute” Kikuchi who will look to use his Kikuchi Crush to put opponents away. He regularly teams with BISON Yano and came very close to becoming the first IJW World Tag Team champions before losing in the finals. Kikuchi aims to improve upon last year’s performance in the tournament and overwhelm everyone on his way to victory this year.
Cameron Vessey – A second generation superstar with a fine pedigree, Cameron Vessey is the son of the legendary Larry Vessey and nephew of Bryan. The Vessey Brothers have long standing reputations for excellence and Cameron is no exception, proving himself to Rip Chord in his own promotion. The young Vessey now seeks to climb the Iron Mountain and prove himself on his own, looking to pick up a second career tournament victory to build upon his previous Rip Chord Invitational victory in 2009.
Inejiro Yoshizawa (Spirit of the Lizard) – Best known as a tag team wrestler with Noritoshi Miura, Inejiro has demonstrated potential to be a singles star too. Buliding his reputation in IJW in both singles and tag team competition, he is part of a developing tag team rivalry with Yano & Kikuchi. His focus is now split between re-establishing his team after their disappointing loss in the tag team title tournament and trying to win the Iron Man Tournament to improve his own singles career.
Kaii Hanari – Currently residing at the foot of the Iron Mountain, Hanari is an energetic youngster with a bright future in the Junior division when that is established. For now, he seeks to improve his standing and gain ring experience.
Kalu Owusu – The explosive and athletic Ivorian known as Kalu Owusu was one of INSPIRE’s most under-rated talents before they folded. Having taken some time to hone his skills, Kalu now seeks new challenges on the Iron Mountain and armed with some new techniques should prove more than able to be a serious threat to anyone he faces.
Lion Genji – At aged just 20 years old, Lion Genji is very much a young lion out to prove himself. Inexperience is his greatest enemy, though every contest is a learning experience and he has shown considerable skill. He was teamed with Shiba Mizoguchi in the Blind Faith tournament and their team has continued on to challenge for the IJW World Tag Team championships.
Merle O’Curle – One of the finest technical workers to emerge from Europe in recent history, “The Irish Stretching Machine” is an extreme dangerous submission based grappler who has reigned as the Ring of Fire champion for 18 months. Now making his way to Japan with his tag team partner Nigel Svensson, O’Curle is looking to climb the Iron Mountain on his way to international glory.
Musashi – Just 18 years old, standing 5’9 and weighing 170 pounds, this young man does not seem to know his own size as he demands to fight in the heavyweight division. A dangerous opponent when he gets going, he has yet to gain enough experience to put his undoubted skills to good use. Once again facing the challenge of the Iron Mountain, Musashi will never let the size of the fight ahead diminish his fire.
Nigel Svensson – The young Nigel Svensson is a product of the famed Wigan style of wrestling, where hard hitting forearm strikes and excruciating jointlocks are the natural order of wrestling. Seeking to prove himself to the world he joined Merle O’Curle on his travels to Japan and now Svensson seeks to climb the Iron Mountain all the way to the summit via the Iron Man Tournament.
Noritoshi Miura (Spirit of the Shark) – One half of the Apocalypse Riders, Miura has largely disappointed in tournament action thus far. Now teamed with his regular partner once again, he will be looking to make significant improvements in both singles and tag team action as he bids to find glory in Iron Japan Wrestling.
Oda Yakuta – This athletic heavyweight has shown himself to be a highly promising talent who’s reputation so far has been built with the defunct INSPIRE organisation. Known for his hard hitting brawling style, Oda has found himself close to a Contender’s spot yet unable to quite get up there. He now looks to get an IJW World Heavyweight title shot by winning the Iron Man Tournament, starting with IJW surprise package Tobei Sugmiura.
Onishi Takuma – The founder of IJW, Onishi Takuma once again found himself one step away from glory as he tried to topple Taheji Konoe from the top of the Iron Mountain. Despite putting on a career best performance Takuma fell just short as Konoe’s intensity and heart matched his challenger. Takuma must once again try to earn a shot at the IJW World Heavyweight championship, going through the Iron Man Tournament and trying to maintain his status as a top contender at the same time.
Shiba Mizoguchi – A technical grappler who likes to focus his offense on the legs, “The Crab Master” has taken a shine to Lion Genji with whom he was paired in the Blind Faith Tournament. Their tag team has continued after their exit from the event, and now with more time to work together they hope to mount a serious challenge to the IJW World Tag Team titles.
Taheji Konoe – The IJW World Heavyweight champion proved he is no fluke, remaining undefeated in IJW with a win over IJW founder Onishi Takuma in what was hailed as IJW’s best match of 2010. The champion’s ruthless aggression and ability to endure harsh punishment has helped him to cement his reputation as one of the finest wrestlers outside of the big leagues and he will look to further enhance this reputation by defeating his next designated challenger Tsurayuki Kamachi at the tour finale, while also cementing his place in the tag team ranks with his Blind Faith tag team partner Tobei Sugimura.
Tobei Sugmiura – One of the surprise packages of IJW so far, Sugmiura has consistently shown himself to be a versatile and dangerous competitor in both singles and tag team action. He will be looking to gain standing in the tag team division with his partner Taheji Konoe, while simultaneously hoping to face him once more in singles action by winning the Iron Man Tournament, having to go further than most with a preliminary match against Oda Yakuta.
Tomohiko Wakai - This young heavyweight grappler is a graduate of the Tokyo Wrestling Dojo who has joined IJW as a trainee. With almost no experience, Wakai is described by his trainers as “a dedicated student of the gym who has a good grasp of the fundamentals of wrestling”. With only a handful of matches to his name he is looking to gain experience before he can realistically expect to make progress up the Iron Mountain.
Tsurayuki Kamachi – One of the brightest prospects in Japan, Kamachi got his basic training with the PGHW youth ranks and cemented his young reputation with INSPIRE. Whether wrestling on the mat or striking on his feet, Kamachi is proving to be one of the most exciting competitors that IJW has to offer. Despite a disappointing tour Kamachi has found himself pushed into the top Contenders spot due to the departure of Nariaki Hitomi and the defeat of Onishi Takuma by the champion. Kamachi has been granted a title match at the tour finale, and will be looking to sharpen his skills with some strong performances before he gets his chance to sit atop the Iron Mountain.
Wasichi Inao – The veteran Inao spent most of his career under a mask and cape as “The Fire Fox” before unmasking in 2009. In the year since making the change he has become a much improved wrestler, turning in exciting performances around the country. 2011 has seen him take on his first big league tours as he first signed with GCG and now with IJW, looking to prove to everyone that he is a big time player as he joins the Iron Man Tournament on his way to big things.
Yusuke Takahama – Since making the switch from baseball to wrestling, Takahama has had to endure a tough path. Few believed he would be tough enough to endure the basic training and yet he did, and with several years experience behind him now he has matured into an excellent Junior competitor. Coming to the Iron Mountain to further prove himself, he has bonded well in battle with Brother Yoshiitaka with whom he has proven his ability to work in a team as the fresh duo have become IJW World Heavyweight champions. Takahama must now face his friend and tag team partner in singles action to progress his singles career and lay claim to the vacant Contender’s spot, while also seeking to retain the tag team titles and win the Iron Man Tournament too.

<hr>

SCHEDULE

The Iron Tour 2010 will consist of 4 shows leading up to the tour finale and the crowning of The Iron Man 2011 as the final 8 combatants face off in tournament action, an IJW World Championship match and more hotly contested matches to be determined after the earlier tournament action.

Show 1 will feature 3 matches to narrow down the field to 16 people, a Contendership match between the two tag team champions.

SHOW 1: IJW Iron Tour Part 1
MAIN EVENT TAG: Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs Onishi Takuma & Tsurayuki Kamachi
CONTENDERSHIP BOUT: Yusuke Takahama vs Brother Yoshiitaka
TOURNAMENT PRELIM: Cameron Vessey vs Kaii Hanari
TOURNAMENT PRELIM: Oda Yakura vs Tobei Sugimura
TOURNAMENT PRELIM: Noritoshi Miura vs Wasichi Inao
TAG: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs The Wigan Warriors

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Tour Part 2
IRON MAN TOURNAMENT BOUTS
#1: Musashi vs Onishi Takuma
#2: BISON Yano vs Tomohiko Wakai
#3: Lion Genji vs Merle O’Curle
#4: Brute Kikuchi vs Shiba Mizoguchi
+ more yet to be announced matches!

SHOW 3: IJW Iron Tour Part 3
IRON MAN TOURNAMENT BOUTS
#5: Kalu Owusu vs Oda Yakuta/Tobei Sugmiura
#6: Noritoshi Miura/Wasichi Inao vs Yusuke Takahama
#7: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
#8: Cameron Vessey/Kaii Hanari vs Nigel Svensson
+ more yet to be announced matches!

SHOW 4: IJW Iron Tour Part 4
Challengers to the mountain will meet their matches here and gain their rankings if they can earn a victory! With so much tournament action going on, this card will be decided closer to the date.

TOUR FINALE: IJW THE IRON MAN TOURNAMENT 2011

IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE BOUT: Taheji Konoe © vs Tsuraykui Kamachi
THE IRON MAN TOURNAMENT FINALE: The final 8 men square off in the Iron Man Tournament to crown a new Iron Man and secure an IJW World Heavyweight title match.
…and much, much more to be decided throughout the tour!

All cards subject to change

<hr>

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountains, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

Tournament time again in IJW as the Iron Man Tournament kicks into high gear. They’re holding more shows, hiring more people and having more people on each show… so presumably they’re making some decent money. So if you guys have been buying their DVDs then you can partly claim responsibility for some of the guys they’ve hired. Good work!

In case it isn’t obvious, the second round of matches will see winners of #1 face winner of #2 and so on… so for anyone wanting to make predictions with me, that’s the format. I guess that was lost a little bit in the translation, it was probably explicit when it was written in Japanese but you know how these things are. This is a big tour for IJW, they really look to be pushing to capitalise on their position as Japan’s favourite little indy promotion just despite having so many big companies at the top of the food chain. Puro is really hot right now, with PGHW and BHOTWG both being awesome in their own ways, Haruki Kudo leading GCG’s revival with consistently awesome matches and WLW carving their own niche that has made them a favourite among tape traders around the world. Good luck to the little guys, one day they might just have a shot at being able to unseat the big boys, if they get lucky!

- Robert Greene

[trypio]

Read up to this part and I'm liking this very much. It made me want to start a Japanese 0/0/0/0 promotion game as well. Here are my predictions.

SHOW 1: IJW Iron Tour Part 1
MAIN EVENT TAG: Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs Onishi Takuma & Tsurayuki Kamachi
You're not making your top contenders lose to a young lion tag team.

CONTENDERSHIP BOUT: Yusuke Takahama vs Brother Yoshiitaka
Takahama is probably more over and you're not willing to risk popularity loss.

TOURNAMENT PRELIM: Cameron Vessey vs Kaii Hanari
Same reason as previous match.

TOURNAMENT PRELIM: Oda Yakura vs Tobei Sugimura
Sugi has been given somewhat of a push, but I'm going for Yakura. He's upper midcard material. Sugi isn't.

TOURNAMENT PRELIM: Noritoshi Miura vs Wasichi Inao
Inao is too great to lose in the prelims.

TAG: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs The Wigan Warriors
Merle is the only non-young lion, so I think making him lose would not be appreciated by fans. I'm not sure if that counts for tag matches though.

SHOW 2: IJW Iron Tour Part 2
#1: Musashi vs Onishi Takuma
Young lion vs. Veteran

#2: BISON Yano vs Tomohiko Wakai
He's in desperate need of a singles victory

#3: Lion Genji vs Merle O’Curle
Young lion rule...

#4: Brute Kikuchi vs Shiba Mizoguchi
Shiba is a solid upper midcarder.


SHOW 3: IJW Iron Tour Part 3
#5: Kalu Owusu vs Oda Yakuta
Young lion rule.

#6: Wasichi Inao vs Yusuke Takahama
Tough choice, but I think you're going for Inao as he's probably slightly more over than Taka and has better performance skills. Depends on who he faces next round as he's a bit one dimensional and a match with a brawler or a technician won't be great.

#7: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Inejiro Yoshizawa
Not a fan of the spirits and Brother Yoshi is much better all-round.

#8: Cameron Vessey vs Nigel Svensson
Popularity gap is too big for Vessey to lose.

[The Masked Orange]

You've probably noticed that I haven't predicted lately, it's mainly because I'm quite lazy. Though I've been reading and loving IJW.

[Derek B]

+ Mamoru Nagahama and Battle Sakata into development with Hinote Dojo, who is more likely to become a star?
+ Nakasawa defeats Kikkawa to retain Burning World Championship… Kikkawa defeats Nakasawa to retain King of Fighters title
+ Another Kudo Klassic at GCG Parade of Champions in victory over Pistol Pete Hall
+ COLUMN by bretter_person: Kaneie Komine, what he should do now that he’s not with BHOTWG
+ R.I.P. MOSC: The end of anarchy in the UK, MOSC closes after more than 20 years in business
+ PRIDE Koiso begins second reign as holder of the PGHW Glory Crown, ends Kwakami’s reign after just 2 successful defences
+ Kikkawa taken to time limit draw by Tadakuni Toshusai for the King of Fighters title!
+ COLUMN: A look at Elemental III’s domination of the Junior scene in BHOTWG, can the youngster handle the pressure?


IJW Iron Tour Results, and final card for The Iron Man Tournament 2011
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Me, excited? About puro? Never in a million years! I’m so looking forward to this event, it’s going to be really cool. A rising star that seems loyal to IJW, a young champion with fire in his eyes… a tournament mixing things up from all around the world! Exciting junior stars? Rankings?! What more could you possibly want? It’s perhaps the most complex and exciting blend of wrestling and showmanship outside of North America and it makes me very happy indeed. Here are the tour results so far and the card for the big tour finale of The Iron Man Tournament! Yay! :D

Thursday, Week 2, February 2011
IJW Iron Tour Part 1
Gunma Hall: 87 in attendance

- IRON MAN PRELIM: Oda Yakuta defeated Tobei Sugimura via pinfall at 10:07 following a Yakuta-Bomb. It seems someone at IJW head office hadn’t realised that Tobei was double booked tonight, but Tobei came prepared. He tried a lot of quick roll ups on Yakuta to end the match early and stay in the tournament but Yakuta was having none of it. In fact, Yakuta seemed to deliberately not go for covers when he could and inflict extra damage, eventually winning after hitting a Yakuta-Bomb. RATING: 3/10
- TWIN PEAK CHALLENGE: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji defeated The Wigan Warriors (Merle O’Curle & Nigel Svensson) via pinfall at 12:17 following quick roll up. An amazing tag team match for IJW here as they put out a quality display of wrestling. The Wigan Warriors tied up their opponents in knots throughout this match but a little inexperience from Svensson saw Mizoguchi get a flash roll up to counter a submission and steal a victory for his team. Disappointment in defeat for the visitors, but a superb performance otherwise. RATING: 5/10
- IRON MAN PRELIM: Cameron Vessey defeated Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 12:15 following a Vessey Plex. Watching Cameron Vessey in action reminds be of both his father and uncle in action, hard hitting and unafraid. A good match here, Hanari hung with Vessey for as long as he could before Vessey hit a higher gear, stringing some suplexes together and putting Hanari away with a family trademark. RATING: 3/10
- IRON MAN PRELIM: Wasichi Inao defeated Noritoshi Miura via pinfall at 14:55 following a 450 Splash. Two distinct styles in this bout as Wasichi took to the air against his ground and pound style opponent. Wasichi looked to be caught on the top rope and in real trouble but he fought hard to kick Miura away, hitting a beautiful 450 Splash barely a moment after Miura had thumped into the canvas. Nice debut for “The Fire Fox”. RATING: 4/10
- BONUS MATCH: Kalu Owusu & Tomohiko Wakai defeated Bison Yano & Brute Kikuchi via submission at 12:43 following an Angular Armbar. Apparantly all of these men wanted a match so this was added to the card at the last minute. Owusu made a solid debut as he forced Kikuchi to tap out while their respective partners were engaged in a ringside brawl. Owusu didn’t seem as sharp as usual, probably ring rust given his lengthy stint on the sidelines following INSPIRE’s collapse. RATING: 3/10

A significant talking point happened after this match as Yano and Kikuchi exchanged heated words in the ring, getting in each other’s faces. My Japanese isn’t all it could be but I think Kikuchi wanted to know why his partner wasn’t making the save from the submission while Yano was explaining that he was busy fighting the other half of the match… something like that. Crowd oooh’ed and aaah’ed a bit to see the big guys face off, but it was hardly SWF style TV. RATING: 3/10

- IRON CONTENDERSHIP BOUT: Brother Yoshiitaka defeated Yusuke Takahama via pinfall at 17:25 following a Shaolin Powerbomb. The reigning IJW World Tag Team champions had to put their tag team to the side tonight as both looked to claim the vacant spot in the top contender’s area, just one step away from an IJW World Heavyweight title match. Both men showed lots of respect for each other, in sharp contrast to the argument moments ago, and tried to give it their all. Whether the respect caused them to hold back a bit or they just weren’t sure of each other, this match wasn’t as good as it could have been… Yoshiitaka eventually picked up the win after a quick combo of moves, with both men showing respect and hopefully learning something about each other from this match to use in future battles. Brother Yoshiitaka claims the vacant Iron Contendership spot and will certainly be watching the main event to check out the competition. RATING: 3/10
- MAIN EVENT: Onishi Takuma and Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura via submission at 22:01 following an Inverted Sleeper. A great night for tag team action as this match delivered on many levels. Tobei’s earlier action tonight saw him spend a lot of the match on the apron as the champ upped his ferocity to a new level, aggressively taking the fight to both Contenders to his throne. When he did get in the ring Sugmiura looked outclassed by the competition but done a good job of letting his partner rest up… but in the end, the weakened Sugimura couldn’t hold off against two top guys, not even with the champion on his side and he succumbed to Kamachi’s Inverted Sleeper while Takuma and Konoe were throwing devastating strikes at each other.RATING: 5/10


Two excellent tag team matches made this a pretty darn good show, one of the best IJW have produced so far. Yoshiitaka vs Takahama should have been an exciting high flying contest but seemed to go too long and the match kinda didn’t work out the way it should have though... in fact, the entire show felt like it was stretched out, a bit like a movie some movies sometimes. Even so, one of IJW’s best shows yet with a pair of great matches for them, they really seem to be finding their feet now that EXODUS 2010 isn’t around to steal their spotlight.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Thursday, Week 2, February 2011
IJW Iron Tour Part 2
Gunma Hall: 113 in attendance

- IRON: Noritoshi Miura defeated Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 8:14 following a Storm Rider. Not a lot to say here, Miura roughed up the youngster, Hanari fought back with some fire but ultimately fell to a Storm Rider. Solid enough match. RATING: 3/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: BISON Yano defeated Tomohiko Wakai via pinfall at 6:49 following Yano Express. If you are looking for the best of IJW, this wasn’t it. Neither guy looked competent and the art of wrestling was brutally exposed in this one. The finish was the best bit for two reasons. First, it was a kick to the face~! Second, it was the finish, which could barely come soon enough. BAD! RATING: 2/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: Shibo Mizoguchi defeated Brute Kikuchi via submission at 10:47 following a Raised Crab. A vast improvement on the previous match, Kikuchi’s power was shown off as he lifted, threw and generally powered Mizoguchi away from his knees. The Crab Master tenaciously worked over Kikuchi’s knees but several crab giving attempts were powered out of… but ultimately Mizoguchi’s tenacity paid off and once he leaned back on a Raised Crab Kikuchi has no choice but to tap out for the second time on the tour. RATING: 3/10
- IRON RANKING: Kalu Owusu defeated Inejiro Yoshizawa via pinfall at 7:39 following a Lariat Clothesline. This wasn’t so much a wrestling match as it was a no-nonsense, straight ahead fight between two brawlers. The ring could barely contain them as they spilled to the floor and used the ringside area as a weapon, pushing the referee’s count for all it was worth. After some hard hitting slams, Owusu built up momentum and hit the Lariat Clothesline and that was all she wrote in this one, cementing Owusu’s place on the Iron Mountain after he was too impatient to wait for a higher level opponent. RATING: 4/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: Merle O’Curle defeated Lion Genji via submission at 12:17 following a Celtic Wreath. Ohmigod, Merle is an amazing wrestler. I mean, sure he might have the charisma of a particularly uncharismatic sponge but when he gets going in the ring he’s amazing. His first couple of matches with IJW have been show stealers for them now, with this technical bout with Genji making both men look good. O’Curle wraps in the Celtic Wreath (awesome move!) to force the submission. He almost manages to convey that he is pleased by that, but not quite. RATING: 5/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: Onishi Takuma defeated Musashi via knock out at 9:09 following a Neverending Mounted Palm Thrust. Hard hitting and intense would be good ways to describe this, another change of pace in the show. Musashi, as always, came out all guns blazing and kicking things as if they’d personally affronted him by saying things about his mother. Takuma weathered the storm, slowly turned things in his favour and managed to get the mount position. My Japanese isn’t perfect but I’m pretty sure he was telling Musashi to tap out, but the youngster wouldn’t and the match was eventually stopped by the referee when Musashi could no longer defend himself. Musashi just doesn’t know when to quit! RATING: 4/10
- MAIN EVENT SIX MAN TAG: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe, Tobei Sugmiura and Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated Brother Yoshiitaka, Yusuke Takahama and Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 20:21 following a Savage Cradle DDT. An exciting 6 man bout pitted the IJW champion, his challenger and his regular tag partner against the IJW tag champs and one of the top challengers on the Iron Mountain. Not even advertised ahead of time this match saw a lot of posturing as Konoe and Kamachi got a first hand look at each other’s styles once more and the tag champs warmed up for an upcoming title match on show 4, likely against The Apocalypse Riders. Lots of back and forth action with a good pace to it as brawling and flying met head on. The end result went in favour of the IJW champion, catching Yusuke Takahama with a Savage Cradle DDT to pick the win amidst the chaos. RATING: 4/10


Another excellent show, this time stolen by O’Curle vs Genji in what is probably IJW’s best match yet. I know I went off on a praise-rant about Merle already but damn that guy is good! No wonder he’s the ROF champion, now I think I’m gonna have to go look up some UK wrestling just to see him in action. Anywho, a great show for IJW again as they continue their trend of awesomeness. The Iron Man Tournament is shaping up nicely with Onishi Takuma vs BISON Yano, and Merle O’Curle vs Shiba Mizoguchi set for the finale now. One of those matches has the potential to be awesome… guess which!

OVERALL RATING: 4/10




Thursday, Week 2, February 2011
IJW Iron Tour Part 2
Gunma Hall: 105 in attendance

- TWIN PEAKS: BISON Yano & Brute Kikuchi defeted Kaii Hanari & Tomohiko Wakai via pinfall at 7:49 following a Stereo Choke Slam. It seems that after the big argument between Yano and Kikuchi that things are patched up between them, though they did seem more aggressive than normal in this strong performance. Hanari and Wakai will theoretically be grateful for the experience, but will probably be wishing they didn’t have to suffer so much pain in the process. RATING: 3/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: Cameron Vessey defeated Nigel Svensson via pinfall at 11:13 following a Sick Cycle. Brutal finish with is father’s own move, dropping Svensson practically on his head with the Sick Cycle. Great contest between these two young guns, they both showed that they deserve a high up spot on the roster with this contest. RATING: 5/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: Brother Yoshiitaka defeated Inejiro Yoshizawa via pinfall at 13:37 following a Shaolin Powerbomb. This tournament bout acts as a prelude to the upcomingn title defense, with the tag champ pulling out the victory in singles competition. This match could have went either way but Yoshiitaka’s risks paid off this time and he softened up his opponent enough to finish him as both men looked to be running out of fuel. RATING: 3/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: Kalu Owusu defeated Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 12:30 following Lariat Clothesline. Two hard hitting athletes stepped into the ring with the intention of throwing everything they had at each other and the belief that they could take more than the other could dish out. Only one man could be right, and that man was Kalu Owusu who has carved out his reputation on his toughness having fought his way up from the streets of Sassanda in the Ivory Coast. A big Lariat Clothesline put the exclamation point in this very loud match. RATING: 4/10
- IRON MAN LAST 16: Wasichi Inao defeated Yusuke Takahama via pinfall at 15:27 following a 450 Splash. Exciting junior heavyweight action in the Iron Man tournament saw two top contenders to the future IJW Junior Heavyweight championship demonstrate just how exciting that style of wrestling can be… to be fair, BHOTWG and WLW do it better but that’s besides the point. With Takahama downed, Inao headed to the top to hit the highlight reel move of the night and advance in the tournament. RATING: 4/10
- MAIN EVENT SIX MAN TAG: Onishi Takuma, Tsurayuki Kamachi & IJW World Heavyweight champion Taheji Konoe defeated Merle O’Curle, Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji via submission at 16:39 following an Inverted Sleeper. On one side was a veritable dream team of IJW’s top stars, the guys who have been battling each other for the right to say they are the king of the Iron Mountain. On the other side a group who seem to be inseperable, whether they be facing each other in tournament action or testing themselves against the best. O’Curle and Mizoguchi straight out tried to make people tap with leg locks of all kinds while the dream team mixed up technical skills with devastating strikes, turning O’Curle’s pale skin into a pattern of red prints and white streaks. In a very even contest the weak link proved to be the young Lion Genji, who once isolated was no match for the challenger to the IJW World Heavyweight championship and was forced to tap out to an Inverted Sleeper once is was locked in tight. Awesome IJW match! RATING: 5/10


I know I seem to say things like this a lot, but IJW once again surpassed themselves with this show. Eaily their best show yet, with a main event that wouldn’t be out of place on the card of any wrestling based promotion on the planet, with Vessey/Svensson on the undercard also delivering the goods big time. O’Curle and Mizoguchi’s machine like assault on the legs of the entire opposition team was neat to watch, they should be able to have a fun match in the Iron Man Tournament. Also added to the card is Kalu Owusu vs Wasichi Inao, and Brother Yoshiitaka vs Cameron Vessey. It’s getting tough to pick winners now, but that’s what we’re gonna have to do soon!

OVERALL RATING: 5/10

Great shows so far, and IJW have even released the details of their remaining shows. Time to get your predictions on, though as long as they actually believe they are a wrestling company some of the results are fairly… predictable. But that’s also kinda the point of a sport, right? You know who’s good and who’s not so good, which means you should generally be able to predict a winner. Amirite?

SHOW 4: IJW Iron Tour Part 4

MAIN EVENT NON TITLE MATCH: Taheji Konoe vs Oda Yakuta
IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama © vs The Apocalypse Riders
TAG: Tsurayuki Kamachi/Kalu Owusu vs Cameron Vessey/Merle O’Curle
IRON: Wasichi Inao vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON RANKING: Nigel Svensson vs Musashi
TWIN PEAKS: BISON Yano & Brute Kikuchi vs Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji

With the Iron Man Tournament on the horizon, this is the last chance for many to check out their opposition, prepare the tournament ahead and improve their standinds on the mountains!

<hr>

***TOUR FINALE*** IJW The Iron Man Tournament 2011

IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT: Taheji Konoe © vs Tsurayuki Kamachi

THE FINAL EIGHT COMPETITORS IN THE IRON MAN TOURNAMENT BATTLE TO LIFT THE TROPHY AND FACE THE CHAMPION

Onishi Takuma vs BISON Yano
…the winner will face the winner of…
Merle O’Curle vs Shiba Mizoguchi

Kalu Owusu vs Wasichi Inao
…the winner will face the winner of…
Brother Yoshiitaka vs Cameron Vessey

PLUS A SPECIAL ATTRACTION TAG TEAM TOTAL ELIMINATION MATCH – WHO WILL SURVIVE?!

The Apocalypse Riders/Oda Yakuta/Musashi/Tobei Sugimura
VS
Brute Kikuchi/Nigel Svensson/Yusuke Takahama/Kaii Hanari/Tomohiko Wakai


Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! IJW have been on a hot streak and their crowds have been steadily growing, which seems to have spurred them on to do better and better. I’m looking forward to the tournament, it looks like it could deliver an excellent show… I wish I could be there.

Puro fans… you know I like to talk, hit me up with any predictions you may have and lets see just how much we know, understand and can guess from the info we have! :)

- Robert Greene

[jtlant]

The finish was the best bit for two reasons. First, it was a kick to the face~!

Haha nice. :D

SHOW 4: IJW Iron Tour Part 4

MAIN EVENT NON TITLE MATCH: Taheji Konoe vs Oda Yakuta
IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama © vs The Apocalypse Riders
TAG: Tsurayuki Kamachi/Kalu Owusu vs Cameron Vessey/Merle O’Curle
IRON: Wasichi Inao vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON RANKING: Nigel Svensson vs Musashi
TWIN PEAKS: BISON Yano & Brute Kikuchi vs Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji

A couple here that could go either way, the first two tag matches in particular.

***TOUR FINALE*** IJW The Iron Man Tournament 2011

IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT: Taheji Konoe © vs Tsurayuki Kamachi

Finals - Merle O’Curle vs Cameron Vessey
Semifinals - Onishi Takuma vs Merle O’Curle
Semifinals - Wasichi Inao vs Cameron Vessey
First Round - Onishi Takuma vs BISON Yano
First Round - Merle O’Curle vs Shiba Mizoguchi
First Round - Kalu Owusu vs Wasichi Inao
First Round - Brother Yoshiitaka vs Cameron Vessey

The Apocalypse Riders/Oda Yakuta/Musashi/Tobei Sugimura
VS
Brute Kikuchi/Nigel Svensson/Yusuke Takahama/Kaii Hanari/Tomohiko Wakai

O'Curle is unknown in Japan, but he's by far the best wrestler on your roster and is a respected veteran, so I think you might give him the tournament win.

[Historian]

SHOW 4: IJW Iron Tour Part 4

MAIN EVENT NON TITLE MATCH: Taheji Konoe vs Oda Yakuta
IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama © vs The Apocalypse Riders
TAG: Tsurayuki Kamachi/Kalu Owusu vs Cameron Vessey/Merle O’Curle
IRON: Wasichi Inao vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON RANKING: Nigel Svensson vs Musashi
TWIN PEAKS: BISON Yano & Brute Kikuchi vs Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji

***TOUR FINALE*** IJW The Iron Man Tournament 2011

IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT: Taheji Konoe © vs Tsurayuki Kamachi

Onishi Takuma vs BISON Yano
…the winner will face the winner of…
Merle O’Curle vs Shiba Mizoguchi
Thus Onishi Takuma vs Merle O'Curle

Kalu Owusu vs Wasichi Inao
…the winner will face the winner of…
Brother Yoshiitaka vs Cameron Vessey
Thus Wasichi Inao vs Cameron Vessey

Onishi Takuma vs Cameron Vessey

The Apocalypse Riders/Oda Yakuta/Musashi/Tobei Sugimura
VS
Brute Kikuchi/Nigel Svensson/Yusuke Takahama/Kaii Hanari/Tomohiko Wakai

[EricAdams]

I'm thinking Merle needs to be brought in for the next tour.

[Derek B]

+ Dynamite Narahashi called up to BHOTWG for his second spell with the promotion
+ Tsurayuki Kamachi loyal to new indy darlings Iron Japan Wrestling, turns down Hinote Dojo approach.
+ Kunomasu defeats Pathlow, Muruyama and Kawashima on route to winning PGHW Elite Series for the first time
+ CANADA: Dan Stone Jr and Jeremy Stone win their fourth Ed Henson Memorial Cup
+ MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM: Tadiyuki Kikkawa defended the King of Fighters title against Black Cobra in the main event of Fire Dream of The Immortals in what many have described as possibly the greatest match ever…
+ Nobuatsu Tatsuko to miss 3 months of action with back injury
+ Morimaso Kato joins BHOTWG roster


IJW Iron Tour Results, and final card for The Iron Man Tournament 2011
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Lots more excitement in IJW as they hold the second annual Iron Man Tournament, the winner of which will receive a shot at the IJW World Heavyweight champion. Here are the results of the last show and the tournament itself, which has made me very happy indeed!

Thursday, Week 1, March 2011
IJW Iron Tour Part 4
Gunma Hall: 116 in attendance

- TWIN PEAKS: BISON Yano & Brute Kikuchi defeated Shibo Mizoguchi & Lion Genji via pinfall at 11:03 following Kikuchi Crush. An excellent tag team match to kick off the show, with both sides working well together to execute their gameplans. Power and tag experience triumphs on this occasion, with Kikuchi ending the match with a rough looking Kikuchi Crush on young Lion Genji. RATING: 4/10
- IRON RANKING: Nigel Svensson defeated Musashi via submission at 9:52 following a Hyper Extension Arm Lock. Fantastic fast paced match with Musashi opening up his killer offensive arsenal from the get go. Svensson demonstrated why Wigan style wrestling is respected around the world, working over any limb that came close to him and finally forcing a submission with an excruciatingly painful looking Hyper Extension Arm Lock. Great stuff! RATING: 4/10
- IJW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE BOUT: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama defeated The Apocalypse Riders via pinfall at 13:42 following a Shaolin Powerbomb/Flying Splash to retain the belts. This match looked for all the world that we’d be seeing new champions at the end of it. The challengers worked like a well oiled machine and cut off the ring for lengthy periods of pummelling on Yusuke… but when the inevitable fight back happened, the champions proved that they are tough and more than capable of looking after themselves, eventually securing a double team to put the challengers away and retain the gold. RATING: 4/10
- IRON: Wasichi Inao defeated Tobei Sugimura via pinfall at 12:05 following a 450 Splash. While this match was contested on the Iron Mountain there can be little doubt that both of these men will make the move over to the Volcano/Junior Heavyweight division when it is formed. Wasichi once again proved that he is a fine competitor, showing that losing the mask has allowed him to be taken more seriously and raise his game a the same time. A couple of big suplexes set up for the 450 Splash, the highlight reel move of the night once again. RATING: 4/10
- TAG: Tsurayuki Kamachi/Kalu Owusu defeated Cameron Vessey/Merle O’Curle via submission at 17:14 following an Inverted Sleeper. A big warm up tag team bout for those heading into the Iron Man Tournament, with each of these men no doubt scouting out potential opponents. Everyone got in their share of the offense and showed their toughness by being on the receiving end too. Vessey brawled with his opponents, Kalu hit hard, O’Curle tied people up in knots and Kamachi kept pace with everyone on his way to eventually wrapping up Vessey in an Inverted Sleeper. Vessey tapped fairly quickly, no doubt preserving himself for the big tournament itself rather than foolishly holding on and weakening his own chances at victory. Fantastic match for IJW. RATING: 5/10
- MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT: Taheji Konoe defeated Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 13:46 following an Animalistic Gore. This match wasn’t announced ahead of time as being a championship bout, but Konoe seemed fired up and ordered the referee to declare it as an official title match. Whether Yakuta was fired up or put out by this surprise move was hard to tell, but he held his own as expected against the champion for the duration of the match, finally being overwhelmed by an amazingly brutal Animalistic Gore that almost snapped him in half. The champion looks good heading into his advertised title defense against Tsurayuki Kamachi at the Iron Man Tournament. RATING: 4/10


Iron Japan Wrestling head into one of their biggest events of the year with the Iron Man Tournament 2011 right around the corner. From top to bottom this was probably their best show to date, though the main event wasn’t their best match as the semi-main overshadowed it… but then, it was packed with big names from around the world so that was almost to be expected. Even the Apocalypse Riders had a great match and they’ve often been disappointing in tag action but they really seem to be coming along now that they are getting regular work.

OVERALL RATING: 5/10

Thursday, Week 2, March 2011
IJW The Iron Man Tournament 2011
Gunma Hall: 157 in attendance

- IRON MAN TOURNAMENT FINAL 8: Onishi Takuma defeated BISON Yano via stoppage at 9:52 following a Neverending Mounted Palm Thrust. Takuma may not be the quickest or the most dextrous, but when it comes to experience and toughness he’s right up there. Yano clobbered Takuma around the ring, forced back only by Takuma’s chops for a while. Takuma found an opening and jumped on the chance to get the advantage, pummelling Yano with palm strikes from the mount position. It looked like Yano might have been able to break the move but ultimately Takuma landed some stiff shots, Yano’s hands went down, he stopped fighting for position and the referee had to stop the match. Incidentally, the referee apparantly likes Swedish cinema. Weird. RATING: 4/10
- IRON MAN TOURNAMENT FINAL 8: Merle O’Curle defeated Shiba Mizoguchi via submission at 14:43 following a Celtic Wreath. I’ve been accused of being a purophile a few times in the past, but I’m going to go on the record and say that THIS WAS AMAZING!! Homoerotic though it may be, these two men rolled around the mat in an amazing technical match that saw dozens of painful submissions be applied TO every limb BY every limb. O’Curle advances by escaping some of Mizoguchi’s dreaded crabs to wrap in the Celtic Wreath to finally force a tap out in IJW’s finest match to date. RATING: 6/10
- IRON MAN TOURNAMENT FINAL 8: Kalu Owusu defeated Wasichi Inao via submission at 10:29 following an Angular Arm Bar. Following on from a technical masterclass was a styles clash of epic proportions as hard hitting brawling met high flying antics. Inao’s quickness kept him one step ahead for a while, allowing him to attempt the 450 Splash but Owusu got his knees up to drive the wind out of Inao… unable to recover his feet, Wasichi found himself locked into the Angular Arm Bar and despite a valiant struggle had to tap out. RATING: 4/10
- IRON MAN TOURNAMENT FINAL 8: Cameron Vessey defeated Brother Yoshiitaka via pinfall at 11:41 following a Vessey Driver. More exciting tournament action saw one half of the IJW World Tag Team champions taking on the undefeated second generation star Cameron Vessey… and it was yet another top notch match as both men gave it their all. Yoshiitaka set the tone with some speedy antics from the get go while Vessey tried to slow him down and then beat him up with some stereotypical hard hitting Vessey moves, including a lot of suplexes. Yoshiitaka threw caution to the wind to get the upperhand and had Vessey up for a Shaolin Powerbomb, only for Vessey to slip out the back and hoist Yoshiitaka up on his shoulders to drive him down with a Vessey Driver. This took a lot out of both men, but Vessey stands victorious in the end, the third gaijin to advance to the final four. RATING: 4/10
- 5 vs 5 TAG TEAM ELIMINATION MATCH: The Apocalypse Riders/Oda Yakuta/Musashi/Tobei Sugimura defeated Brute Kikuchi/Nigel Svensson/Yusuke Takahama/Kaii Hanari/Tomohiko Wakai via pinfall at 19:41 following a Yakuta-Bomb. Yakuta pins Svensson. RATING: 4/10
- IRON MAN TOURNAMENT FINAL 4: Onishi Takuma defeated Merle O’Curle via submission at 15:47 following a Takuma Crossface Submission. Having contested a torturous match earlier in the night, O’Curle was pushed to the limits by Takuma who showed that he still knows how to wrestle even if hitting hard is his main strength now. Merle wanted to keep the match grounded and Takuma wanted it standing, leading to lots of takedown attempts and a lot of hard hitting strikes as the crowd got behind the lat remaining Japanese competitor in the tournament. In the end Takuma bullied Merle to the mat for a Takuma Crossface Submission, hitting dozens of chops to Merle’s head until he was unable to fend off the takedown and ultimately submitting to Takuma’s strength of will as much as anything else. RATING: 5/10
- IRON MAN TOURNAMENT FINAL 4: Kalu Owusu defeated Cameron Vessey via pinfall at 11:43 following a Lariat Clothesline. This match never slowed down to catch it’s breath from the get go as both men looked to end things quickly so that they could reach the finals and protect themselves following on from their previous tough matches. Lots of finisher attempts and Owusu showed that he’s been doing his homework by countering them plenty, while Vessey showed that he is capable of handling himself when the going gets tough. Owusu slips out the back of a Vessey Driver and quickly builds up momentum of the ropes to hit a Lariat Clothesline that is enough to keep Vessey down for a three count. RATING: 4/10
- IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT: Taheji Konoe © vs Tsurayuki Kamachi

Going into this match there was a lot of pomp and circumstance, with the crowd seeming to particularly get behind the challenger after his recent declaration of loyalty to IJW. They cheered for the champion too of course, respectful of everything he’s done so far for the company and his intense style of wrestling.

Both men started more slowly than normal, exercising caution given the stakes of the match and the record number of IJW fans in attendance tonight. Things escalated as Konoe started to play loosely with the rules, using some illegal chokes and taking the fight to the outside but he was met with some fire from Kamachi who showed that he is also capable of fighting rough should the occasion arise. The match went back and forth as both men tried to find ways to wear down and ultimately eliminate the other and it was Konoe who made the first big mistake, looking for a huge Animalistic Gore that hit nothing but ringpost in the corner as Kamachi narrowly escaped the move. Kamachi struggled desperately to lock in the Inverted Sleeper and had it for a while and keep the champ in the middle of the ring, but Konoe managed to use sheer force of will to backpedal into the ropes to break the move. Minutes laters Konoe snapped off a brutal neckbreaker to counter a hard hitting flurry of strikes and used that to set up the Savage Cradle DDT, but only for a two count! The crowd went wild as Konoe tried the cover again only to fail… Kamachi was pulled to his feet and countered by launching back into a flurry of strikes on the champion who fell back off balance, bouncing off the ropes and hitting an Animalistic Gore to stun his challenger again, this time using the momentum from that to hit the Savage Cradle DDT to get a three count.

Taheji Konoe defeated Tsurayuki Kamachi via pinfall at 18:44 following Savage Cradle DDT to retain the IJW World Heavyweight Championship. RATING: 5/10

- MAIN EVENT – THE IRON MAN TOURNAMENT 2011 FINAL: Onishi Takuma vs Kalu Owusu

With fatigue really starting to take it’s toll, both competitors were starting to look the worse for wear heading into this match. With the crowd expecting a hard hitting contest for the ages, they were treated to s relatively slow paced bout interspersed with flurries of action. Both men tried to go for submission attempts and keep the contest grounded for lengthy periods of time, going against their usual MO of hitting hard and hitting often.

Things heated up again as both men decided to switch tactics and gears at the same time, taking the fight to standing and throwing strikes at each other like they were going out of fashion. Then the finishing sequence, a battle to gain the upper hand having beaten the fight out of each other for long enough to make one finisher all that would be necessary. Takuma went for the Takuma Crossface Submission, throwing headchops to weaken Owusu who athletically rolled through to escape and tried for an Angular Arm Bar of his own. Takuma’s years of experience helped him to get back to his feet and get separation before Owusu tried for a Lariat Clothesline only to be taken down into a Crossface submission that had him in clear pain…

… and yet he managed to get to the ropes to force a break. With Takuma’s strength fading he went back to the chops that have been his main offensive weapon for so long, battering the breath out of Owusu who needed the ropes to keep him on his feet. After a dozen or so hits, Owusu channelled all his energy into an explosive slam style takedown on Takuma that drove the wind out of him and stunned him long enough to get an Angular Arm Bar locked in. Takuma fought bravely with the crowd roaring for him, willing him to get to the ropes but eventually the pain was just too much, with the effects of previous bouts proving to accumulate to too much and forcing him to tap out.

Kalu Owusu defeated Onishi Takuma via submission at 14:36 following an Angular Arm Bar. RATING: 4/10


In front of their biggest crowd to date IJW deliver some of their best matches and an awesome tournament. There really wasn’t a bad match on the card and Merle O’Curle stole the show with what must easily be regarded as IJW’s two finest matches to date, with the Mizoguchi match being a fantastic display of wrestling from both men. With Tsurayuki Kamachi professing his loyalty to IJW recently there were a lot of fans in the crowd expecting him to win the gold tonight but Konoe managed to retain the strap for what may now be a really hard hitting and violent battle with Kalu Owusu following his win in the tournament. I can’t wait!!

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

In my own mental ranking system for things, I reckon this show had 3 of the top 5 IJW matches so far… and pretty much the entire top 10 is filled out with matches from this tour… all of Merle’s matches seem to be on there. Seriously, I think I’m going to have to go watch a lot of Ring of Fire because I’ve had some of you guys say that his matches with guys like British Samurai and Walter Morgan are even better, which is something that makes me salivate. Seems Mr JT Lant is also a fan of Merle, he thought he might even win the tournament despite only having had a handful of matches in Japan. My friend Historian (who really does know his stuff) thought Takuma would win and wasn’t far off… but he also though Vessey would be in the final, which was a little optimistic. Only a little though! I’m in massive agreement with everyone that Merle O’Curle needs to come back to Japan for more tours, hopefully with IJW since he’s been awesome for them but anywhere is good. Can you imagine him going up against Kikkawa or Nakasawa in BHOTWG? Koiso in PGHW? Kudo, Hyobanshi or Gakuash in GCG? Actually, I can’t… which just makes me wonder how good those matches could be.

Anywho, enough rambling from me, this update is getting relly wordy. Rumours are about that IJW might be looking to shore up their Junior Heavyweight… sorry, Volcano divison with some new signings and introduce a belt on the next tour. Nothing definite from them yet, I guess we’ll see who they can bring in for the next tour and hope for the best! Til then, remember that only tough guys watch puro!

- Robert Greene

[MaxxHexx]

This is a pleasure to read. Keep up the good work.

[Historian]

Great work thus far! It's been a fantastic read! And to think, I was really rocking and rolling there in that Iron Man Tournament! I'm just a big fan of Onishi!

[Derek B]

As always, thanks for the kind words. I put this on the backburner for a little bit to finish up work on the CV97 (now released!) among other things but I'm getting back on track again soon cos I've been dying to play this game again. It's absolutely freezing here at the moment so I've been trying to keep my hands under the duvet (no jokes please :p) to keep them warm, so large amounts of typing haven't been my top plan.

And yet, I want to get moving on this. Will update the tour details sometime in the next few days and will then get cracking on crowning an IJW Junior Heavyweight champion. Got some interesting names in this little tournament, bet no-one can guess the full field of eight. :)

[The Masked Orange]

As always, thanks for the kind words. I put this on the backburner for a little bit to finish up work on the CV97 (now released!) among other things but I'm getting back on track again soon cos I've been dying to play this game again. It's absolutely freezing here at the moment so I've been trying to keep my hands under the duvet (no jokes please :p) to keep them warm, so large amounts of typing haven't been my top plan.

Gloves?

Loving the fed, keep up the great work. :)

[Derek B]

+ Henry Bennett and Kenko Takemitsu to debut with BHOTWG on Happenstance tour
+ CANADA: Johnny Bloodstone defeats Dan Stone Jr in match that rivals Kikkawa vs Duane Stone in BHOTWG
+ COLUMN: Yoshimi Mushahibo, once the greatest wrestler on the planet but has his knee injury changed him forever?
+ Magnum KOBE single reaches #1 in music charts! Will this mean even better business for WLW now?
+ BISON Yano begins full time training with Pro Wrestling SAISHO
+ AUSTRALIA: The Comedian suffers broken jaw in altercation with a horse… no news on the status of the horse
+ COLUMN: The Tiger Roars: A detailed look at GCG’s rise from the ashes back to national power in Japan


IJW to crown first Junior Heavyweight champion + tour details
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

On the back of the critical success of the Iron Man Tournament, IJW has been getting some good press in Japan for their interesting concepts and general quality of wrestling. I like to think I had a hand in getting them to where they are today, if it weren’t for me and you (my loyal readers!) buying their DVDs then the company may have never been able to get off the ground in the first place. So you guys can take a little joy in knowing that you’ve helped out a good cause and something that will hopefully be a source of entertainment for many years to come.

A new tour is on the horizon for IJW, here is their usual translated nonsense for those of you who like to knows what’s going on. Did I say nonsense? I meant to say Japanese is such a wonderful language, so expressive that it never really carries over into English in quite the same way. Check it out!


Iron Japan Wrestling feeling the heat from the Volcano

A new Iron Man was crowned at the Iron Man Tournament 2011 as Kalu Owusu overcame all challengers on his way to victory, ensuring that he would be next in line to challenge the peak of the Iron Mountain, still beind held by the IJW World Heavyweight champion Taheji Konoe following his victory over Tsurayuki Kamachi in a glorious andn titanic championship bout.

As the world moves, new mountains are raised and the landscape changes forever. Such is the world and such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Alongside the Iron Mountain and the Twin Peaked Mountain rises The Volcano, a mountain where only smaller competitors may survive and thrive. From around the world competitors have answered the call of the Volcano and will do battle to be the first to reach it’s blazing summit and revel in the glory of being champion. In addition to Iron Japan Wrestling’s four already debuted challengers are four new challengers, meaning an eight man tournament will take place over the course of the tour. An existing challenger will face a debutant challenger in the first round, with the final four squaring off in a mini-tournament of explosive action at the tour finale where the first ever IJW Junior Heavyweight Champion will be crowned.

The call of the mountains grow ever stronger as challengers from around the world heed the summons and wish to do battle. The fall of one challenger from the Iron Mountain has seen three more scramble to replace him, with four making their first steps on the Volcano. Below are the complete listings of all challengers to the mountains and the plans for all five shows on this next tour.

<hr>

A “W” signifies a recent significant victory. A “L” signifies a recent significant loss. A “D” signifies a recent draw. The most recent result is on the left hand side. Only the 5 most recent significant results are shown.

THE IRON MOUNTAIN

IJW World Heavyweight Champion: Taheji Konoe

Top Contenders
LWWWL - Onishi Takuma
LWLWL - Tsurayuki Kamachi
LWWLL - Brother Yoshiitaka

The Iron Mountain
LLWLL - Oda Yakuta
WLLWW - Noritoshi Miura
LWLLW - Shiba Mizoguchi
WWWWW - Kalu Owusu
LWWWW - Cameron Vessey
LLLW - Brute Kikuchi
LLL - Inejiro Yoshizawa
LWW - Merle O’Curle
WL - Nigel Svensson
LLWLL - Musashi
LWL - Tomohiko Wakai
LLLWL - Lion Genji

New Challengers

- Giant Brody
- Rahabad Lawal
- Rashid Lawal


THE TWIN PEAKED MOUNTAIN


IJW World Tag Team Champions: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama

Top Contenders
LWL – The Apocalypse Riders (Inejiro Yoshizawa & Noritoshi Miura)
LWL – Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji
(vacant)

The Twin Peaked Mountain

L - Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura
LL – Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
L - The Wigan Warriors (Merle O’Curle & Nigel Svensson)

New Challengers

- Arthur Dexter Bradley & El Diamante Azul
- Tsurayuki Kamachi & Eiji Suyuki
- Onishi Takuma & Brute Kikuchi
- The Nigerian Hit Squad (Rahabad & Rashid Lawal)


THE VOLCANO

IJW Junior Heavyweight Champion: (vacant)

Top Contenders
(vacant)
(vacant)
(vacant)

The Volcano

(vacant)

New Challengers

- Arthur Dexter Bradley
- Eiji Sayuki
- El Diamante Azul
- Fox Mask
- Kaii Hanari
- Tobei Sugmiura
- Wasichi Inao
- Yusuke Takahama


<hr>

CHALLENGERS

Arthur Dexter Bradley – Part of the legendary extended Samoan family, ADB is the younger brother of SWF star Akima Brave and GCG star Rhino Umaga. A tremendous natural athlete ADB has spent his early career competing in Puerto Rico and Mexico, where he was trained. Hearing the call of the Volcano he now makes his first trip to Japan to compete and has his eyes firmly locked on the IJW Junior Heavyweight championship, competing in a first round match against Tobei Sugimura for the chance to advance to the tour finale.
Brother Yoshiitaka – A middleweight with a wide array of skills, Yoshiitaka has already proven himself to be quite the competitor. More than capable of throwing his weight around to use his body as an offensive weapon, his enviable versatility continues to be put to the test as he strives to not only get himself an IJW World Championship title match but to also retain the IJW World Tag Team titles with his tag team partner Yusuke Takahama.
Brute Kikuchi – The largest Japanese native in Iron Japan Wrestling at 6’9 and 303 pounds, Akira “Brute” Kikuchi who will look to use his Kikuchi Crush to put opponents away. His team with BISON Yano was one of IJW’s finest unti Yano departed the Iron Mountain but now he finds himself teaming with IJW founder Onishi Takuma, the man he teamed with in last year’s Blind Faith tournament and who is now taking him under his wing as a protégé. How will Kikuchi fare without his regular partner, and will he now be able to grow as a singles competitor as well as succeeding in the tag team ranks.
Cameron Vessey – A second generation superstar with a fine pedigree, Cameron Vessey is the son of the legendary Larry Vessey and nephew of Bryan. The Vessey Brothers have long standing reputations for excellence and Cameron is no exception, proving himself to Rip Chord in his own promotion. The young Vessey now seeks to climb the Iron Mountain and prove himself on his own and build off his progress to the semi finals of the Iron Man Tournament on the last tour.
Eiji Sayuki – Eiji “Young Boy” Suyuki who has spent several years paying his dues and earning the respect of his peers across the Japanese independent scene. The exciting high flyer has a wide range of skills at his disposal and will be aiming to become IJW’s first ever IJW Junior Heavyweight champion and rise to the top of the Volcano, assuming he can get past IJW World Tag Team champion Yusuke Takahama in the first round.
El Diamante Azul – The Blue Diamond is a talented Japanese junior wrestler who moved to Mexico and took a mask to help him develop as a competitor in the fast paced world of lucha libre. Having honed his craft, he makes his return to Japan for the first time in several years to take on The Volcano, looking to use his international experience to become the first ever IJW Junior Heavyweight champion, while also looking to establish himself in the tag team ranks witih fellow traveller arthur Dexter Bradley.
Fox Mask – Proclaimed as “The King Of The Coastal Zone” Fox Mask has been one of the top stars of CZCW for more than a decade, first winning their championship in 2001 and currently in his sixth reign. Chasing his dream to be the best, he has found his way to IJW and The Volcano where he will look to advance past Kaii Hanari on his way to the glory of the IJW Junior Heavyweight championship.
Giant Brody – Leon “Giant” Brody is a 6’9, 326 pound monster of a man from the USA who is the largest man climbing the Iron Mountain. Not a lot is known about him but he is said to be strong, agile, hard hitting and very capable for a man his size. He will make his debut against the smallest man on the Iron Mountain, Musashi, in a match that is sure to be fascinating to watch.
Inejiro Yoshizawa (Spirit of the Lizard) – Best known as a tag team wrestler with Noritoshi Miura, Inejiro has demonstrated potential to be a singles star too. Buliding his reputation in IJW in both singles and tag team competition, his rivalry with Yano & Kikuchi was one of IJW’s biggest in 2010. Looking to reach the top of the Twin Peaked Mountain with his tag partner, Yoshizawa has ambitious goals and the chance to reach the top.
Kaii Hanari – Moving from the Iron Mountain to the Volcano, Hanari is one of IJW’s finest young talents, capable of brawling, flying or technical wrestling. He will be looking to improve the standing of his tag team witih Tomohiko Wakai in the tag ranks while also looking for singles glory in the Volcano division as he first faces off against CZCW champion Fox Mask.
Kalu Owusu – The explosive and athletic Ivorian known as Kalu Owusu was one of INSPIRE’s most under-rated talents before they folded. After winning the 2011 Iron Man Tournament, Owusu has earned the right to face IJW World Heavyweight champion Taheji Konoe at the tour’s finale, in what is sure to be an awesome showdown between two intense and hard hitting athletes. Owusu gets the chance to scout his opponent in the lead up to their championship bout, but will he be able to dethrone Konoe and take his place a the top of the Iron Mountain?
Lion Genji – The young Lion Genji has been one of IJW’s brightest young prospects since the inaugural Iron Man Tournament. Showing a great fire, his team with Shiba Mizoguchi is developing into one of the highlights of the midcard, putting on exciting matches with a variety of opponents. Genji may yet lack the experience to go up against the top guys in IJW, but over time he looks set to be a big star and should almost certainly be able to lay claim to some gold, with the IJW World Tag Team championships currently in his sights.
Merle O’Curle – One of the finest technical workers to emerge from Europe in recent history, “The Irish Stretching Machine” is an extreme dangerous submission based grappler who has reigned as the Ring of Fire champion for 18 months. Now making his way to Japan with his tag team partner Nigel Svensson, O’Curle is looking to climb the Iron Mountain on his way to international glory and he has caught the imagination of all IJW fans with his innovative and deadly technical wrestling.
Musashi – Just 18 years old, standing 5’9 and weighing 170 pounds, this young man does not seem to know his own size as he demands to fight on the Iron Mountain rather than the more suitable Volcano. Filled with inner fire and definitely a dangerous competitor, Musashi’s unwillingness to let his size define him as a wrestler is almost certainly holding back his career. As he goes into this new tour, he will face off with American bruiser Giant Brody in the biggest size mismatch so far in IJW.
Nigel Svensson – The young Swede Nigel Svensson is a product of the famed Wigan style of wrestling, where hard hitting forearm strikes and excruciating jointlocks are the natural order of wrestling. Seeking to prove himself to the world he joined Merle O’Curle on his travels to Japan which has seen Svensson gain a lot of acclaim both in singles action and for his part in The Wigan Warriors with O’Curle. He seems like he may have unlimited potential as he continues to improve with every match.
Noritoshi Miura (Spirit of the Shark) – One half of the Apocalypse Riders, Miura’s success in IJW has come mostly in tag team though his forays into singles competition have also met with some success. With his focus currently on the IJW World Tag Team championships, The Apocalypse Riders will be looking to secure a shot at the belts and climb to the top of the Twin Peaked Mountain.
Oda Yakuta – This athletic heavyweight has shown himself to be a highly promising talent who’s reputation so far has been built with the defunct INSPIRE organisation. Known for his hard hitting brawling style, Oda has found himself close to a Contender’s spot yet unable to quite get up there and will be looking to once again get himself into the running over the course of this tour with some strong performances.
Onishi Takuma – The founder of IJW was once again just one step away from climbing to the top of the Iron Mountain but the physical toll of the Iron Man Tournament and the ferocity of Kalu Owusu saw his dreams ended in the final of the event. Once more he must try to raise his game to the top level as he looks to secure a shot at the IJW World Heavyweight Championship, and with Brute Kikuchi at his side following Bison Yano’s departure from the Iron Mountain, Takuma may also be looking to make a run to the top of the Twin Peaked Mountain.
Rahabad Lawal – The intimidating twin Lawal brothers are a heavyweight tandem who have made something of a reputation for themselves in Europe. Both men wrestle a very similar style, using their size and power to overwhelm their opponents to set up for the Nigerian Hit. One of the most fluid teams in the world, they are not above pulling out some twin based trickery to get the job done if the need to and complete another Nigerian Hit.
Rashid Lawal – (see Rahabad Lawal)
Shiba Mizoguchi – A technical grappler who likes to focus his offense on the legs, “The Crab Master” has found a good tag team partner in young Lion Genji, with whom he has already achieved moderate success in IJW. Seeking to make progress up both the Iron Mountain and the Twin Peaked Mountain over the course of this tour, Mizoguchi has been working hard to improve the fluidity of his tag team wrestling as well as adding ever more technical skill to his arsenal to better prepare himself for more matches with Merle O’Curle, a man he deeply respects.
Taheji Konoe – The IJW World Heavyweight champion made another successful defense of the belt in defeating Tsurayuki Kamachi in a very even and competitive match. He will now face off against the winner of the Iron Man Tournament, Kalu Owusu, in what is sure to be a hard hittin, action packed title match. On his way to the finale he will get the chance to not only scout out his opponent in tag team action, but also to improve the standing of his fledgling tag team with Tobei Sugimura on the Twin Peaked Mountain, and perhaps even put himself in the running to reign supreme over both mountains.
Tobei Sugmiura – One of the surprise packages of IJW, Sugmiura has consistently shown himself to be a versatile and dangerous competitor in both singles and tag team action. He will be looking to gain standing in the tag team division with his partner Taheji Konoe, while simultaneously hoping to earn singles gold, making the switch from the Iron Mountain over to the Volcano. He will face Arthur Dexter Bradley in the first round.
Tomohiko Wakai - This young heavyweight grappler is a graduate of the Tokyo Wrestling Dojo who has joined IJW as a trainee. With very little experience, Wakai is described by his trainers as “a dedicated student of the gym who has a good grasp of the fundamentals of wrestling”. With only a handful of matches to his name he is looking to gain experience before he can realistically expect to make progress up the Iron Mountain on his own or the Twin Peaked Mountain with his partner Kaii Hanari.
Tsurayuki Kamachi – One of the brightest prospects in Japan, Kamachi got his basic training with the PGHW youth ranks and cemented his young reputation with INSPIRE. Whether wrestling on the mat or striking on his feet, Kamachi is proving to be one of the most exciting competitors that IJW has to offer. Defeat in his IJW World Heavyweight championship match with Taheji Konoe should only be a minor setback for the IJW loyalist who will be looking to bounce back on this tour and earn himself another title match in the near future while experimenting with new tag team partners over the course of the tour to help him gain more experience.
Wasichi Inao – With an excellent debut tour behind him, Inao has quickly established himself in IJW as a future star of potentially the Iron Mountain and Volcano. On this tour he will be competing for the IJW Junior Heavyweight championship, looking to take the skills he has refined over the last couple of years and add gold to them, with his first opponent being the homecoming El Diamante Azul.
Yusuke Takahama – Since making the switch from baseball to wrestling, Takahama has had to endure a tough path. Few believed he would be tough enough to endure the basic training and yet he did, and with several years experience behind him now he has matured into an excellent competitor. He has gone on to prove himself as a proficient competitor on the Iron Mountain and reigns supreme on the Twin PeakedMoutain with Brother Yoshiitaka. Yusuke now aims to capture championship glory on the Volcano by entering into the tournament to crown a champion, meeting Eiji Sayuki in the first round.

<hr>

SCHEDULE

The Volcano Tour will take place over 5 events, leading up to the tour finale called IJW Eruption. Over the course of those events the Volcano division will compete in a series of tournament bouts to crown a first champion, top contenders in both the Twin Peaked Mountain and Iron Mountain will be challenged and decided… and ultimately, champions will be tested to see if they truly deserve to sit atop their respective mountains. Here is the preliminary match ups to start the tour, with later shows being filled out later based on results on earlier shows

IJW Volcano Tour Part 1

MAIN EVENT TWIN PEAKS: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs The Wigan Warriors
IRON: Cameron Vessey vs Kalu Owusu
NON-TITLE: IJW World Tag Team Champions Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama vs Tsurayuki Kamachi & Eiji Suyuki
OPEN: Oda Yakuta vs Wasichi Inao
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/CONTENDER: The Apocalypse Riders vs Arthur Dexter Bradley & El Diamante Azul
VOLCANO FINAL 8: Fox Mask vs Kaii Hanari
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/CONTENDER: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs The Nigerian Hit Squad


IJW Volcano Tour Part 2

MAIN EVENT TAG: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs Kalu Owusu & Tsurayuki Kamachi
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/(CONTENDER?): The Wigan Warriors vs Arthur Dexter Bradley & El Diamante Azul
IRON CHALLENGER: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Oda Yakuta
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/(CONTENDER?): Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs Onishi Takuma & Brute Kikuchi
TAG: The Apocalypse Riders vs Cameron Vessey & Fox Mask
VOLCANO FINAL 8: Eiji Suyuki vs Yusuke Takahama
TWIN PEAKS (RANKING?): The Nigerian Hit Squad vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
IRON CHALLENGER: Musashi vs Giant Brody


IJW Volcano Tour Part 3

Confirmed so far…

VOLCANO FINAL 8: El Diamante Azul vs Wasichi Inao
TWIN PEAKS (CONTENDER?): Onishi Takuma & Brute Kikuchi vs The Nigerian Hit Squad
TWIN PEAKS (CONTENDER?): Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs The Wigan Warriors
TWIN PEAKS (CONTENDER?): IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari


IJW Volcano Tour Part 4

Confirmed so far..

MAIN EVENT INVITATIONAL TAG MATCH: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & A Partner Of His Choice vs Kalu Owusu & A Partner Of His Choice
VOLCANO FINAL 8: Arthur Dexter Bradley vs Tobei Sugimura
IRON: Cameron Vessey vs Shiba Mizoguchi


IJW Eruption

MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Taheji Konoe © vs Kalu Owusu
IJW JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL & SEMI FINALS
Fox Mask/Kaii Hanari vs Eiji Suyuki/Yusuke Takahama
El Diamante Azul/Wasichi Inao vs Arthur Dexter Bradley/Tobei Sugimura

Other matches to be added based on tour results…


All cards subject to change

<hr>

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountains, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

And there you have it, another exciting tour from my favourite little Japanese indy promotion. If I could watch them while drinking coffee and eating cake in my favourite little coffeehouse then I’d be very happy indeed, but it seems that something has killed the internet there so I can’t… not yet anyways. As always, let me know what you think of the cards, your predictions on winners, best matches and all the stuff that makes us smarter than the average smark. Remember, knowing the terms doesn’t mean you understand what’s really going on!

- Robert Greene

[Historian]

[Winners In Bold]
IJW Volcano Tour Part 1

MAIN EVENT TWIN PEAKS: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs The Wigan Warriors
IRON: Cameron Vessey vs Kalu Owusu
NON-TITLE: IJW World Tag Team Champions Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama vs Tsurayuki Kamachi & Eiji Suyuki
OPEN: Oda Yakuta vs Wasichi Inao
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/CONTENDER: The Apocalypse Riders vs Arthur Dexter Bradley & El Diamante Azul
VOLCANO FINAL 8: Fox Mask vs Kaii Hanari
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/CONTENDER: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs The Nigerian Hit Squad

Summary: Looks like a very promising show from my favorite little company that could.

IJW Volcano Tour Part 2

MAIN EVENT TAG: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs Kalu Owusu & Tsurayuki Kamachi
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/(CONTENDER?): The Wigan Warriors vs Arthur Dexter Bradley & El Diamante Azul
IRON CHALLENGER: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Oda Yakuta
TWIN PEAKS RANKING/(CONTENDER?): Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs Onishi Takuma & Brute Kikuchi
TAG: The Apocalypse Riders vs Cameron Vessey & Fox Mask
VOLCANO FINAL 8: Eiji Suyuki vs Yusuke Takahama
TWIN PEAKS (RANKING?): The Nigerian Hit Squad vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
IRON CHALLENGER: Musashi vs Giant Brody

Summary: Another good show from the looks of it. Very hard to predict winners. I went with Takuma and Kikuchi against Mizoguchi and Genji because quite frankly, Takuma is my favorite member of the IJW roster! How could one vote against the man with the iron hands? Also, The Nigerian Hit Squad just seem like they might be teamed more full time then Wakai and Hanari.

I will do predictions for the other shows as the cards become final.

[Derek B]

+ Pop star Magnum KOBE wins second WLW Universal championship from The Great Hisato
+ Second generation star Tanyu Toshusai signs with GCG
+ Roster reshuffle for BHOTWG with talent called up and talent cut
+ Dynamite Narahashi leaves BHOTWG to sign with resurgent GCG




IJW Volcano Tour results and updated schedule
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

Here are details of the first two shows of IJW’s Volcano tour, with the path to an IJW Junior Heavyweight champion being travelled along with a lot of rankings based matches going down, especially in the expanding tag team division. Definitely some surprises in the mix here, but I won’t spoil them for you ahead of the breakdown so have a looksie and don’t forget that I’m always open do discussions about all things puro.

Thursday, Week 2, May 2011
IJW Volcano Tour Part 1
Gunma Hall: 194 in attendance

- TWIN PEAKS RANKING/CONTENDERSHIP: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji defeated the Nigerian Hit Squad via pinfall at 10:02 following a quick roll up. The Lawal twins didn’t quite make the big Japanese debut win they had set out to achieve but the bruisers certainly left their mark on the fledgling team of Mizoguchi & Genji. Mizoguchi managed to turn a takedown attempt into a tight cradled pin for the fall, and even if whichever Lawal (Rahabad?) had kicked out he looked in real danger of catching crabs from Mizoguchi anyways. Solid match though, great teamwork from the Nigerians as they really showed their experience together. RATING: 4/10
- VOLCANO FINAL 8: Fox Mask defeated Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 8:48 following a Fox Hunter. “The King Of The Coastal Zone” showed a lot of class in this match as he eased past his young opponent and into the final four of the tournament to crown the first ever IJW Junior Heavyweight champion. Was good to see Fox Mask in Japan as he’s one of those guys who has never seemed to get the level of popularity and respect his talents deserve. RATING: 4/10
- TWIN PEAKS RANKING/CONTENDERSHIP: The Apocalypse Riders defeated El Diamante Azul & Arthur Dexter Bradley via pinfall at 12:33 following The End Of The World. Another amibitious pairing tried to upset the rankings on the Twin Peaked Mountain and came up short this time, with the Mexican based duo of Azul & ADB unable to use their high flying antics to unseat the Apocalypse Riders from their spot near the summit of the Twin Peaked Mountain. Another good debut though, they should be exciting to watch in the Junior tournament. RATING: 4/10
- OPEN: Wasichi Inao defeated Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 13:45 following a 450 Splash. A non-divisional bout here as Wasichi’s new Volcano status takes him away from the Iron Mountain. With both men looking to keep sharp, this match tested them both out in ways they might not be getting for a while again. Yakuta eventually found himself in no man’s land, falling from the top rope and losing the match as Wasihci hit the 450 Splash from the top. RATING: 4/10
- NON-TITLE TAG: Eiji Sayuki & Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated IJW World Tag Team Champions Brother Yo****aka & Yusuke Takahama via submission at 19:30 following an Inverted Sleeper. A massive upset here in a match that was ultimately intended to be a warm up test for the tag champs. Sayuki and Kamachi weren’t even intending to be a regular team but with this result they have catapulted themselves into a title match whenever they can find the time to get one. The champs looked furious with themselves but everything clicked for the new team and Takahama had to tap when his partner couldn’t get past Sayuki to make the save. RATING: 5/10
- IRON: Kalu Owusu defeated Cameron Vessey via pinfall at 19:19 following a Lariat Clothesline. Vessey was handed his first IJW defeat in the Iron Man Tournament by Owusu and this was a rematch to see who the better man was without the trouble of having had extra matches already. On this night it turned out to be Owusu once more but the match could have went either way, with Vessey coming close to hitting his family’s signature moves on more than one occasion, which would surely have been enough. In the end though, Owusu hit the Lariat Clothesline after escaping a Vessey Driver to pick up the win. RATING: 4/10
- TWIN PEAKS CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura defeated The Wigan Warriors via pinfall at 22:17 following an Animalistic Gore. Aiming high, the Wigan Warriors wanted to not only prove themselves as a team but also as singles stars against the IJW champion. Konoe showed his class as a competitor by being able to mat wrestle with the Wigan style specialists while Tobei kept the challengers off balance with a varied assault. After a very even bout, Konoe proved to be the difference maker once more as he levelled Svensson with an Animalistic Gore off a blind tag to pick up the win for his team. RATING: 6/10


An awesome main event from IJW, my review really doesn’t do it justice but both teams really brought it there. Merle continues to show that he has what it takes to be a huge player with IJW as Konoe continued to look impressive as champion. Tobei still seems a little out of place with the champ BUT that also works well as the duo make a good odd couple that keeps Konoe beatable too. All in all, a very good show from top to bottom with no bad matches to speak of. Undoubtedly their best show to date and in front of their biggest crowd to date too, which makes me a very happy puro fan.

OVERALL RATING: 5/10


Thursday, Week 3, May 2011
IJW Volcano Tour Part 2
Gunma Hall: 216 in attendance

- IRON RANKING: Giant Brody defeated Musashi via pinfall at 6:52 following Single Handed Chokeslam. Despite the huge size difference Musashi showed no fear and threw every kick he had at the huge gaijin… after a surprisingly even contest Brody caught Musashi springboarding in and snapped him down to the mat with a brutal chokeslam that earned him the pinfall victory and a spot on the Iron Mountain. RATING: 4/10
- TWIN PEAKS: The Nigerian Hit Squad defeated Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 8:33 following a Nigerian Hit. Once again the Nigerian bruisers looked fluent in tag team wrestling and this time they made it count, controlling most of the match with classic strategy before finally picking up the victory after hitting both of their opponents with a Nigerian Hit. Wakai was the legal man and got pinned… probably by Rashid. Or Maybe Rahabad. They’re identical twins damnit, I can’t be expected to know this kind of thing. RATING: 3/10
- VOLCANO FINAL 8: Eiji Sayuki defeated Yusuke Takahama via pinfall at 13:08 following a Twisting Face Crusher. After the stunning victory for Sayuki/Kamachi over the IJW World Tag Team champions, this match was packed with intensity as Takahama looked to not only advance in the tournament but avenge that defeat. What happened was far from that, as a very even contest saw Sayuki end up getting the victory, hitting a Twisting Face Crusher to pick up a victory and advance to the Final Four. RATING: 4/10
- TAG: The Apocalypse Riders defeated Fox Mask & Cameron Vessey via pinfall at 10:24 following The End Of The World. Fox Mask and Vessey were clearly not on the same page from the outset here, with frequent miscommunications leading to mounting frustrations on top of the beating the Apocalypse Riders were happy to dish out. Already in a foul mood even before the match started Vessey walked out on his partner when Fox was already in peril, which led to The End Of The World shortly after that to end the match. RATING: 4/10
- TWIN PEAKS RANKING/CONTENDER: Onishi Takuma & Brute Kikuchi defeated Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji via submission at 14:53 following Takuma Crossface Submission. Two pairings from last year’s Blind Faith tournament met in this match, with Takuma and Kikuchi officially teaming for the first time since their disappotinment in the finals there. With greatly improved teamwork and combinations, Mizoguchi and Genji were consistently on the back foot, being overwhelmed with power, intensity and brutal strikes. Takuma forced Genji into the Takuma Crossface Submission with a series of chops while Kikuchi used his size and power to trap Mizoguchi in the corner, throwing powerful back elbows at him to stop him from trying to escape. A very good match here. RATING: 5/10
- IRON CONTENDER: Brother Yoshiitaka defeated Oda Yakuta via pinfall at 13:36 following a Shaolin Powerbomb. Yoshiitaka didn’t have to put his Contender status on the line in this match but he chose to anyways, determined to motivate himself to do better than his partner earlier in the night. Yakuta, coming off a loss himself, tried to pound his opponent with everything he had but this was not to be his night once again, as Yoshiitaka took control and ultimately put him away with a Shaolin Powerbomb. RATING: 4/10
- TWIN PEAKS: The Wigan Warriors defeated El Diamante Azul & Arthur Dexter Bradley via submission at 15:28 following a Celtic Wreath. The Wigan Warriors are fast becoming one of IJW’s most popular acts and with match quality like this it is no surprise. The Volcano division competitors may have once again been defeated in this match but they should now be nice and loose after the stretching they received, allowing them to perform well in their tournament matches. A pretty even contest between two very different teams was brought to a close when O’Curle’s tenacity forced Azul into a Celtic Wreath. RATING: 5/10
- MAIN EVENT TAG: Tsurayuki Kamachi & Kalu Owusu defeated Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura via pinfall at 21:27 following Lariat Clothesline. Konoe’s class as a singles champion may be undoubted, but here in tag team action he looked vulnerable as two of IJW’s finest stars ripped into the champ and his tag team partner. The match saw a LOT of nearfalls as Tobei showed a lot of toughness by taking a hell of a beating from two of Konoe’s toughest challengers, including the man he will face at Eruption, the Iron Man Tournament winner Kalu Owusu. In the end Konoe bailed out of the ring to avoid a Lariat Clothesline, tagging his partner in at the same time… and less than a minute later Owusu hit the move on Tobei to secure the pinfall. RATING: 6/10


Now, you’re going to think I’m some kind of smark who goes around chanting match of the year at every match… but this really was the best IJW show to date and had a killer main event with a great dynamic to it. Konoe looked dangerous while Tobei looked slightly out of place as ever and got the wrong end of a lot of beatings here, which actually made him look good cos he kept going. The Wigan Warriors again prove their awesomeness and both look set for stardom sooner or later if they can maintain this level of performance… and everything, generally, was really good. Great stuff!

OVERALL RATING: 6/10

And now, a press release from IJW to cover the remaining touring shows. They’ll have another one to cover the tour finale called IJW Eruption, though we’ve got some matches pencilled in there already now.

IRON JAPAN WRESTLING presents The Volcano Tour

With two events completed so far and much changing of positions aon all the Mountains, the Volcano Tour has so far been a blistering success, mixing tremendous action, spirit and fire much like a Volcano itself.

Coming up on the tour are yet more action packed shows. Part 3 will be headlined by Brother Yoshiitaka who issued a challenge to Tsuaryuki Kamachi following the surprise non-title tag team loss. Unable to face off for the belts due to other commitments, this match will see two Iron Challengers face off for pride and honour!

Part 4 will see a special tag team bout with the IJW World Heavyweight champion Taheji Konoe and the 2011 Iron Man Tournament winner Kalu Owusu facing off in tag team action. Each man was given the choice of who to have as their tag team partners, with Konoe choosing “The Irish Stretching Machine” Merle O’Curle while Owusu chose Brute Kikuchi. With less than a week until Konoe and Owusu face off, this match surely reveals a lot about the strategy of each man heading into their ultimate showdown!

Plus the nights will see more action from the Volcano as El Diamante Azul takes on Wasichi Inao, and Arthur Dexter Bradley faces Tobei Sugimura for the chance to become the first ever IJW Junior Heavyweight champion!


IJW Volcano Tour Part 3

MAIN EVENT IRON CONTENDER VS CONTENDER: Brother Yoshiitaka vs Tsurayuki Kamachi
TWIN PEAKS: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs The Wigan Warriors
VOLCANO FINAL 8: El Diamante Azul vs Wasichi Inao
TWIN PEAKS CONTENDER: Onishi Takuma & Brute Kikuchi vs The Nigerian Hit Squad
IRON: Giant Brody vs Musashi
TWIN PEAKS CONTENDER: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
IRON Kalu Owusu vs Noritoshi Miura
IRON: Inejiro Yoshizawa vs Oda Yakuta
VOLCANO SHOWCASE: Arthur Dexter Bradley & Fox Mask vs Eiji Sayuki & Yusuke Takahama


IJW Volcano Tour Part 4

Confirmed so far..

MAIN EVENT INVITATIONAL TAG MATCH: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & A Partner Of His Choice vs Kalu Owusu & A Partner Of His Choice
IRON CONTENDER VS CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Onishi Takuma
VOLCANO VS IRON SIX MAN TAG: Eiji Sayuki, Fox Mask & Wasichi Inao vs Giant Brody, Lion Genji & Musashi
IRON: Nigel Svensson vs Oda Yakuta
NON TITLE TWIN PEAKS: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama © vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
IRON: Cameron Vessey vs Shiba Mizoguchi
VOLCANO FINAL 8: Arthur Dexter Bradley vs Tobei Sugimura
TWIN PEAKS CONTENDER: The Apocalypse Riders vs The Nigerian Hit Squad


IJW Eruption

MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Taheji Konoe © vs Kalu Owusu

IJW JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL & SEMI FINALS
Fox Mask vs Eiji Suyuki
El Diamante Azul/Wasichi Inao vs Arthur Dexter Bradley/Tobei Sugimura

+ Iron Contenders will defend their contendership status
+ Action from the Twin Peaked Mountain

Other matches to be added based on tour results…


All cards subject to change

<hr>

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountains, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

Lots going on there, I wonder how much planning and forethought actually goes into these tours and how much is just made up on the fly by pairing up random people/teams and seeing what happens?

Regardless, the shows look packed with action and the kind of international roster that you don’t often see. Whether this means that GCG, BHOTWG and PGHW have signed up most of the Japanese talent to their rosters/development or that IJW just like to have people from all over the world on their rosters… is hard to tell. But either way, it makes for a helluva show and I can’t wait to get my hands on some DVDs of their events.

To all my online friends, you guys are like the closest thing I have to a family except for the mother that nags me to stop spending so much time playing video games. Brother Historian, I like the way you think but it turns out that IJW is a bit... unpredictable. I guess they haven't had time to really nail down and fix their roster in place the same way a big promotion has, which means lots of fleixbility in case the big guns come calling around to steal talent away.

Which reminds me, I wonder if IJW have anything in place to prevent that from happening? Anyone know? Get in touch if you think you do, I'm always good for chat about puro!

- Robert Greene

[Derek B]

+ Oleg Dorosklov signs with GCG, Olympic Judo Gold Medalist looks to reach top of pro wrestling world too
+ New King of Fighters in BHOTWG! Black Cobra ends Kikkawa’s reign after 35 successful defenses!
+ BREAKING NEWS: ACPW Head Booker Face Nelson dies in car accident, aged 30
+ Elemental signs with GCG in non-wrestling capacity, Kudo said to have been influential in negotiations
+ Kikkawa vs Cobra rivalry continues with another epic match on Happenstance tour, Cobra retains King of Fighters title as Juniors campaign to be allowed to compete for Burning World Championship
+ Jimmy Cox defeats Toshiharu Hyobanshi to start second reign as GCG World Heavyweight champion
+ CANADA: Steve DeColt defeats Jeremy Stone in classic wrestling bout
+ Nariaki Hitomi added to next BHOTWG tour


IJW Volcano Tour Results + Card for IJW Eruption
by Robert Greene

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/DerekB83/IJW3.jpg

The continuation of the Volcano tour seeing the big set up for the tour finale and what is sure to be some amazing matches there. Some awesome matches on these tour shows too, check them out if you can, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Friday, Week 4, May 2011
IJW Volcano Tour Part 3
Gunma Hall: 175 in attendance

- VOLCANO SHOWCASE: Eiji Sayuki & Yusuke Takahama defeated Fox Mask & Arthur Dexter Bradley via pinfall at 11:03 following a Super Backdrop Suplex. Challengers from the Volcano faced off here with the tour rivalry of Sayuki and Takahama working together to overcome the international challengers. Showing his tag team pedigree, Takahama picked up the final pinfall victory after a huge suplex on ADB. RATING: 4/10
- IRON: Oda Yakuta defeated Inejiro Yoshizawa via pinfall at 10:57 following a Yakuta-Bomb. With both men looking to progress up the Iron Mountain they tried to throw everything they had at each other in a match that was not pretty to watch. In the end Yakuta picked up the victory withi a Yakuta-Bomb to send Yoshizawa sliding down the mountain. RATING: 3/10
- IRON: Kalu Owusu defeated Noritoshi Miura via pinfall at 12:52 following Lariat Clothesline. Despite being the top contender by virtue of being the 2011 Iron Man Tournament winner Owusu is still a challenger on the Iron Mountain and Miura looked to move up with a victory over the man who will challenge for the IJW World Heavyweight championship at IJW Eruption. Unfortunately for Miura, Owusu brought his A-game and put him away with a Lariat Clothesline that almost beheaded him. RATING: 4/10
- TWIN PEAKS CONTENDER: IJW World Heavyweight champion Taheji Konoe & Tobei Sugimura defeated Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari via pinfall at 10:34 following a Savage Cradle DDT. The champion and his regular tag team partner looked comfortable in this match against the rookie tag team of Hanari and Wakai. Tobei demonstrated to his champion partner that he isn’t the weak link some other people consider him to be by more than holding his own, with Konoe putting the finishing touches to both opponents by hitting them with Savage Cradle DDTs. RATING: 4/10
- IRON: Giant Brody defeated Musashi via pinfall at 9:39 following a Single Handed Choke Slam. A rematch from earlier in the tour demanded by Musashi, the size differential between the two was once again apparent in this exposive hard hitting match. Despite showing a lot of heart and fire, Musashi was fended off and then destroyed as Brody hit a choke slam that almost drove his opponent through the mat. RATING: 4/10
- TWIN PEAKS CONDTENDER: Onishi Takuma & Brute Kikuchi defeated The Nigerian Hit Squad via referee stoppage at 13:20 following a Neverending Mounted Palm Thrust. Takuma’s experience and skill shone brightly in this match as his influence on Kikuchi’s offense started to become apparent. Using a high potentate of high impact strikes both Kikuchi and Takuma fought smart against the tag team experience of the newcomers to IJW who didn’t have enough in their bag of tricks to fend of the devastating offense of Takuma and Kikuchi. Takuma eventually got one of them, maybe Rashid, in the Mounted Palm Thrusts while Kikuchi kept Rahabad (probably) away. RATING: 4/10
- VOLCANO FINAL 8: Wasichi Inao defeated El Diamante Azul via pinfall at 17:29 following a 450 Splash. High flying tournament action featuring one of the most improved wrestlers of recent years as Wasichi defeated El Diamante Azul, a Japanese talent who travelled to Mexico to gain experience. Lots of flashy moves but neither man seemed to really get momentum going and the match ended up kinda scrappy. RATING: 3/10
- TWIN PEAKS: The Wigan Warriors defeated Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji via submission at 22:28 following a Celtic Wreath. Amazing technical encounter between two of the most promising tag teams in Japan today. The blossoming rivalry between the two teams has produced some excellent encounters already but this was by far their best, with O’Curle eventually picking up the submission by catching Genji in the Celtic Wreath. RATING: 6/10
- IRON CHALLENGER VS CHALLENGER: Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated Brother Yoshiitaka via submission at 24:18 following an Inverted Sleeper. A main event that wouldn’t look out of place anywhere in the world, these two men left it all in the ring as both men not only looked to move themselves into contention for the IJW World Heavyweight championship but also to learn more about each other for a potential IJW World Tag Team title match too. Kamachi showed his class in a very even match, capitalising on a high flying mistake to lock in the Inverted Sleeper, getting it in so deep that Yoshiitaka had to tap out. RATING: 6/10


With two special matches on this show I have to say (AGAIN!) that this is undoubtedly their best show to date. The main event was awesome and the tag semi-main made be a very happy panda. The Inao/Azul match seemed to go on for too long and the guys looked a little lost out there, and this was the longest show that IJW has had too… guess they really wanted to push people to see how far they could go. All in all, it was definitely their best show so far although the length of some matches took away from the quality. Gotta love it though!

OVERALL RATING: 5/10



Friday, Week 1, June 2011
IJW Volcano Tour Part 4
Gunma Hall: 184 in attendance

- TWIN PEAKS CONTENDER: The Apocalypse Riders defeated the Nigerian Hit Squad via pinfall at 8:20 following The End Of The World. This was different from the typical IJW fare, being much more of a wild brawl than anything they’ve had before. The referee was barely able to control the action and often the non-legal men would brawl at ringside. In the end The Apocalypse Riders hit The End Of The World on Rahabad… or maybe Rashid, it’s hard to tell… to get the pinfall win and cement their position as the top challengers to the IJW World Tag Team titles. RATING: 3/10
- VOLCANO FINAL 8: Arthur Dexter Bradley defeated Tobei Sugimura via pinfall at 11:26 following a Frog Splash. With the winner of this match advancing to a semi final match with Wasichi Inao in the IJW Junior Heavyweight championship there was a lot on the line. Tobei tried to use a varied offense on ADB who was able to brawl, fly and mat wrestle equally well. In a very open contest, a precarious situation on the top rope saw ADB come out with on top and in position to hit a Frog Splash for the win. RATING: 4/10
- IRON: Cameron Vessey defeated Shiba Mizoguchi via pinfall at 12:47 following a Vessey Driver. Both men looked to improve their standing on the Iron Mountain in this contest, with Mizoguchi’s ground and crab offense going up against the versatile young Vessey. Vessey displayed some new offense as he planted Mizoguchi on the top rope, hit him with some devastating palm strikes and pulled him onto his shoulders for a Vessey Driver. RATING: 5/10
- NON TITLE TWIN PEAKS: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama defeated Tomohiko Wakai & Kaai Hanari via pinfall at 8:56 following a Stretch Out Senton. It’s hard to get into the minds of the champions at the moment as they seem to be stumbling from one unpredictable resul to the next. They seemed to consider making this a title match but decided not to, but ultimately they proved themselves to be motivated in this encounter, defeating the low ranked challengers in a fairly one sided bout as Takahama held Hanari in place for a top rope senton from Yoshiitaka. RATING: 3/10
- IRON: Oda Yakuta defeated Nigel Svensson via pinfall at 12:50 following a Yakuta-bomb. Oda builds a little momentum once more on his way up the Iron Mountain by defeating the promising Nigel Svensson. It wasn’t the prettiest of matches, with Yakuta punching his way out of trouble whenever Svensson tried to ground him for submissions but the styles clash made for a good match with Oda hitting the Yakuta-Bomb out of a submission attempt to pick up the victory RATING: 5/10
- SIX MAN TAG: Wasichi Inao, Eiji Sayuki & Fox Mask defeated Giant Brody, Lion Genji & Musashi via pinfall at 12:12 following a 450 Splash. The challengers on the Volcano met some stiff competition from the Iron Mountain in this six man tag packed with excitement and controversy. Musashi showed that he is very good against men close to his own size for once but his rivalry with Giant Brody boiled over and the two men ended up brawling away into the crowd, leaving Genji to be picked apart by the Volcano’s top stars, hitting their signature moves. Twisting Face Crusher from Eiji Sayuki, Fox Hunter from Fox Mask and the spectacular 450 Splash from Wasichi Inao to top things off. RATING: 4/10
- IRON CONTENDER VS CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi defeated Onishi Takuma via submission at 20:42 following an Inverted Sleeper. Two of the Iron Mountain’s top contenders squared off in a match that would almost certainly determine the top contender for the Blind Faith tour, something both men are fighting to be once more. Takuma’s nearly-man status continues to haunt him though as he was bested in this tremendous back and forth match, being squeezed into submission with an Inverted Sleeper less than a minute after looking to almost have things wrapped up with some Mounted Palm Thrusts that Kamachi frantically escaped from. RATING: 6/10
- MAIN EVENT TAG: IJW World Heavyweight Champion Taheji Konoe & Merle O’Curle defeated Kalu Owusu & Brute Kikuchi via submission at 24:46 following a Celtic Wreath. The strategy in this match was obvious… Konoe wanted to dissect Owusu and soften up a body part for his dangerous wrestling ability while Owusu wanted to soften up Konoe by battering and bruising him. Neither man could hope for a better partner to help them reach their goals as this tag match showcased how dangerous all four men could be. O’Curle wrapped up Kikuchi when champion and challenger both lost their cool with a ringside brawl, forcing Kikuchi to tap when he couldn’t power his way out of the move. RATING: 6/10


Awesome show! I know I sound like a smark every time I say it but I really do think IJW are getting better with every show. The two main events here both had implications for the future and both delivered the kind of action and quality of match that wouldn’t look out of place in the big leagues. For a promotion not even filling the 300 capacity in the Gunma Hall that’s pretty damn good.

OVERALL RATING: 6/10

Here’s the card for the tour finale, which seems to have a lot of logically built matches and some really unpredictable action. With the Blind Faith Tournament just around the corner I can’t wait to see how things go down here! :D


Card for IJW Eruption

MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Taheji Konoe © vs Kalu Owusu

IJW JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL & SEMI FINALS
Eiji Suyuki vs Fox Mask
Arthur Dexter Bradley vs Wasichi Inao

IJW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama © vs The Apocalypse Riders

IRON CONTENDER: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
IRON CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Cameron Vessey
IRON: Giant Brody vs Musashi
TWIN PEAKS: The Nigerian Hit Squad vs The Wigan Warriors
TWIN PEAKS: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
VOLCANO: El Diamante Azul vs Tobei Sugimura

All cards subject to change

<hr>

Such is Iron Japan Wrestling. Glory falls to those who will climb the mountains, surpassing all the challenges in front of them, ascending to glory through honour, fighting spirit and desire.

Three title matches, tournament action, action from all their current divisions, rumours of them starting up their own women’s division (which could be awesome!) and the upcoming Blind Faith Tournament… it makes me giddy just thinking about all the stuff going on there just now but I’m mostly hoping they can hold it all together. It can’t be easy holding these shows to such small crowds, even if they do have tons of sponsors and all you loyal readers supporting them with DVD sales. Any thoughts or opinions? Let them be known!!

Or I could keep talking about GCG's massive attempts to be thought of as the equal of PGHW and BHOTWG more. Ever since Haruki Kudo left BHOTWG (cos of the INSPIRE thing) GCG have been on a tear. Problem is, they have a few guys who must be thinking of retiring in Pistol Pete Hall and Haruki Kudo... if they did retire I'm not sure how strong the company would be in the long term, even with guys like Oleg Dorosklov coming in and the likes of purebloods Hyobanshi and Gakusha hitting their hypothetical primes. Disaster waiting to happen? Or is the tiger truly roaring again? Only one way to find out for sure!

- Robert Greene

[The Masked Orange]

Can't beleive I missed this update, for a while I thought it'd be on page 13 :(

MAIN EVENT IJW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Taheji Konoe © vs Kalu Owusu respect to those who are loyal (or who have wrestled in the company for longer...)

IJW JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL & SEMI FINALS
Inao to win the final
Eiji Suyuki vs Fox Mask
Arthur Dexter Bradley vs Wasichi Inao

IJW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Brother Yoshiitaka & Yusuke Takahama © vs The Apocalypse Riders

IRON CONTENDER: Onishi Takuma vs Oda Yakuta
IRON CONTENDER: Tsurayuki Kamachi vs Cameron Vessey
IRON: Giant Brody vs Musashi
TWIN PEAKS: The Nigerian Hit Squad vs The Wigan Warriors
TWIN PEAKS: Shiba Mizoguchi & Lion Genji vs Tomohiko Wakai & Kaii Hanari
VOLCANO: El Diamante Azul vs Tobei Sugimura

All cards subject to change