Post by Salaryman/Raines/FIPW on Jan 28, 2015 14:49:03 GMT -6
To the shock of virtually everyone in the Japanese wrestling world, 1/27/2015 arrived with no card announced for Four Islands Pro Wrestling's first official show. Even so, 1,600 faithful wrestling fans packed the venerable Korakuen Hall, waiting to see what FIPW would give them.
Before the show started, the company's four founders, Kenjiro Ito, MAXIMUM, Keisuke Ozawa, and Toru Nakagawa walked out to the ring, and together welcomed the crowd. They apologized for the lack of an announced card, but explained that, as the first show, they wanted to create a unique, interactive experience. They informed the crowd that taped under eight of the seats in the arena were pieces of paper with numbers on them. Each fan who had one would be able to, with the aid of the matchmakers, make one match for the evening! The fortunate fans were quickly rounded up and taken backstage for what would become an entirely unique experiment in professional wrestling.
The first fan-picked contest was a six-man tag team match featuring six of FIPW's more attractive male competitors. The Bishonen Storm, as it was dubbed, was all action from bell to bell. Young lion Yousuke Abe made a solid accounting of himself against Shun Akiyama, but the Nakamura-led team eventually faltered when Nobuo Iizuka was forced to tag Abe in late in the match against Keisuke Ozawa, who ended the young lion's night with his patented Tiger Driver.
Up next was a Desert Strike vs. Four Islands tag bout, as Phillip Kennedy and Barista made their FIPW debuts against the Street Fighter, Kenichiro Honda and young lion Tomohiro Ikeda. Ikeda was able to out-speed the slow-as-molasses Barista, and looked the better athlete over much of the contest. Kennedy, though, fared significantly better than his coffee-making counterpart. After Barista hit a spinebuster out of nowhere, Kennedy got the tag in, and used a series of big lariats, culminating with the "Acecracker," to put Tomohiro away. After the match, Barista made fake machine guns with his hands, and appeared to be enjoying the victory.
A fan wanted to see FIPW's Samoan tag team go one on one, and Alofa and Ofisa were more than happy to comply in what was a shockingly even contest despite a near eight year experience gap, with Alofa using his submission tactics to keep Ofisa's suplex game at bay for much of the contest. It was ultimately a top rope headbutt that earned the more experienced man the win, as the team shook hands in the ring following the bout, and promised big things to come for Samoan Storm in 2015.
Another six man tag followed, with the noted lover of gaijin wrestling, Jun Nakagawa, teaming with the Confederacy to face gigantic weeaboo Seymour Almasy, deathmatch fighter Masami Inoue, and DSW newcomer Patrick Flanagan in pitched battle. The Almasy/Inoue/Flanagan team controlled much of the bout, with Almasy and Flanagan using fast tags to isolate Hayes, but when the bout broke down into a pier six brawl, it was Nakagawa and the Confederacy who had the advantage, double-teaming Flanagan and leaving him for Nakagawa to finish off with the Nihonjin Iron Claw Slam.
Two of the more hated talents in FIPW squared off next, as Ichiro Nakazawa and Kenjiro Ito went to war. Both men spent some time trying to out-heel the other, a battle Ito won. Nakazawa retaliated with some of his signature suplexes. As the contest went on, both men hit big moves - Ito the Blizzard Suplex, Nakazawa a pair of rolling Dragons. Ito tried the Ito's Ice Age, only to be backdropped. Nakzawa hooked the Ichiban no Suplex, but Ito used his free elbow to fight free - just in time for the bell! Neither man looked happy, but both left the ring, albeit screaming insults at one another.
Junior heavyweight MAXIMUM had quite the mountain to climb in the form of DESTROY ALL HUMANS! member Ryuji Kamigawa. Kamigawa, however, is noted as having difficulty against smaller, faster competitors, and MAXIMUM gave him fits at times during the bout. When Kamigawa caught the masked man, though, the results weren't pretty. A missed second rope splash, however, proved Kamigawa's undoing, as MAXIMUM sunk in the SubMAXXion and doggedly held on until Ryuji was forced to tap.
What many hoped would be an epic encounter between Kiriko Miura and the very angry Eternal Star, Akira Tamura, turned out to be anything but, as Kiriko spent much of the match on the outside, trying to goad the Eternal Star into errors. When Tamura finally engaged, Miura blatantly kicked him below the belt, forcing a disqualification. Miura left to the back, saying nothing, save that she refused to bow to the whims of the crowd in attendance, a comment that earned her much jeering as she disappeared behind the curtain.
A gaijin fan in the audience named Eric Reynolds had the honor of booking the evening's main event, which turned out to be a clash between "The Ruby Viper" Olivier Roy, and the Golden Hero, Kintaro Higashikata. Everyone realized something was up immediately, as "Eric Reynolds" just so happened to look very similar to Bryan Cade, the manager of Roy who accompanied him to the ring. Regardless of how he got the bout, though, a hyper-focused Roy took it to Kintaro from the opening bell. The Canadian very nearly stole the bout with a pair of rollups, then hoisted the Golden Hero on his shoulders for the Viper's Sting, hitting it for a two count broken just before three by Kintaro's boot on the bottom rope. Higashikata was able to rally against Roy, hitting a big Superman punch, and then the Based Arrow for the three count.
As Higashikata celebrated in the middle of the ring, the attention of the crowd suddenly shifted to the aisleway, where EXODUS superstar Chris Strike stood applauding! Strike entered the ring, and asked for a microphone. He praised both Higashikata and Four Islands as a whole, then dropped a bombshell - he would be making three appearances for FIPW over the course of the tour! While the first two were in negotiations, the final match had been confirmed - Chris Strike vs. Kintaro Higashikata, on the final night of the tour!
Higashikata extended a hand, which Strike shook, bringing an eventful first show to its conclusion.
FIPW "ADVENTURES IN KANTO ~ KORAKUEN," 1/27/2015
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1602 Fans - No Vacancy
1. Yoshida Emi Produce ~ BISHONEN STORM!: Keisuke Ozawa & Keiichi Ito & Shun Akiyama beat Toru Nakamura & Nobuo Iizuka & Yousuke Abe by pinfall (10:31) when Ozawa used the Tiger Driver on Abe.
2. Akiyama Masanori Produce ~ DESERT STRIKE VS. FOUR ISLANDS: Phillip Kennedy & Barista beat Tomohiro Ikeda & Kenichiro Honda by pinfall (8:49) when Kennedy used the Acecracker Larat on Ikeda.
3. Tanaka Reizo Produce ~ SAMOAN STORM STRONGEST?: Ofisa beat Alofa by pinfall (11:01) with a swan-dive headbutt.
4. Izumida Kanaye Produce ~ CLASH OF STYLES, CLASH OF CULTURES: Jun Nakagawa & Bubba Hayes & Brett Sanders beat Seymour Almasy & Patrick Flanagan & Masami Inoue (13:21) when Nakagawa used the Nihonjin Iron Claw Slam on Flanagan.
5. Takeda Junpei Produce ~ SUPLEX ACE vs. BRINGER OF THE ICE AGE: Ichiro Nakazawa & Kenjiro Ito fought to a draw (15:00) when the time limit expired.
6. Shimizu Yoshinari Produce ~ DAVID VS. GOLIATH: MAXIMUM beat Ryuji Kamigawa by submission (11:17) with the SubMAXXion.
7. Ebihara Kazuma Produce ~ ETERNAL VENGEANCE!: Akira Tamura beat Kiriko Miura (6:01) by disqualification.
8. "Eric Reynolds" Produce: Kintaro Higashikata beat Olivier Roy (w/ Bryan Cade) (21:08) by pinfall with the Based Arrow.
Before the show started, the company's four founders, Kenjiro Ito, MAXIMUM, Keisuke Ozawa, and Toru Nakagawa walked out to the ring, and together welcomed the crowd. They apologized for the lack of an announced card, but explained that, as the first show, they wanted to create a unique, interactive experience. They informed the crowd that taped under eight of the seats in the arena were pieces of paper with numbers on them. Each fan who had one would be able to, with the aid of the matchmakers, make one match for the evening! The fortunate fans were quickly rounded up and taken backstage for what would become an entirely unique experiment in professional wrestling.
The first fan-picked contest was a six-man tag team match featuring six of FIPW's more attractive male competitors. The Bishonen Storm, as it was dubbed, was all action from bell to bell. Young lion Yousuke Abe made a solid accounting of himself against Shun Akiyama, but the Nakamura-led team eventually faltered when Nobuo Iizuka was forced to tag Abe in late in the match against Keisuke Ozawa, who ended the young lion's night with his patented Tiger Driver.
Up next was a Desert Strike vs. Four Islands tag bout, as Phillip Kennedy and Barista made their FIPW debuts against the Street Fighter, Kenichiro Honda and young lion Tomohiro Ikeda. Ikeda was able to out-speed the slow-as-molasses Barista, and looked the better athlete over much of the contest. Kennedy, though, fared significantly better than his coffee-making counterpart. After Barista hit a spinebuster out of nowhere, Kennedy got the tag in, and used a series of big lariats, culminating with the "Acecracker," to put Tomohiro away. After the match, Barista made fake machine guns with his hands, and appeared to be enjoying the victory.
A fan wanted to see FIPW's Samoan tag team go one on one, and Alofa and Ofisa were more than happy to comply in what was a shockingly even contest despite a near eight year experience gap, with Alofa using his submission tactics to keep Ofisa's suplex game at bay for much of the contest. It was ultimately a top rope headbutt that earned the more experienced man the win, as the team shook hands in the ring following the bout, and promised big things to come for Samoan Storm in 2015.
Another six man tag followed, with the noted lover of gaijin wrestling, Jun Nakagawa, teaming with the Confederacy to face gigantic weeaboo Seymour Almasy, deathmatch fighter Masami Inoue, and DSW newcomer Patrick Flanagan in pitched battle. The Almasy/Inoue/Flanagan team controlled much of the bout, with Almasy and Flanagan using fast tags to isolate Hayes, but when the bout broke down into a pier six brawl, it was Nakagawa and the Confederacy who had the advantage, double-teaming Flanagan and leaving him for Nakagawa to finish off with the Nihonjin Iron Claw Slam.
Two of the more hated talents in FIPW squared off next, as Ichiro Nakazawa and Kenjiro Ito went to war. Both men spent some time trying to out-heel the other, a battle Ito won. Nakazawa retaliated with some of his signature suplexes. As the contest went on, both men hit big moves - Ito the Blizzard Suplex, Nakazawa a pair of rolling Dragons. Ito tried the Ito's Ice Age, only to be backdropped. Nakzawa hooked the Ichiban no Suplex, but Ito used his free elbow to fight free - just in time for the bell! Neither man looked happy, but both left the ring, albeit screaming insults at one another.
Junior heavyweight MAXIMUM had quite the mountain to climb in the form of DESTROY ALL HUMANS! member Ryuji Kamigawa. Kamigawa, however, is noted as having difficulty against smaller, faster competitors, and MAXIMUM gave him fits at times during the bout. When Kamigawa caught the masked man, though, the results weren't pretty. A missed second rope splash, however, proved Kamigawa's undoing, as MAXIMUM sunk in the SubMAXXion and doggedly held on until Ryuji was forced to tap.
What many hoped would be an epic encounter between Kiriko Miura and the very angry Eternal Star, Akira Tamura, turned out to be anything but, as Kiriko spent much of the match on the outside, trying to goad the Eternal Star into errors. When Tamura finally engaged, Miura blatantly kicked him below the belt, forcing a disqualification. Miura left to the back, saying nothing, save that she refused to bow to the whims of the crowd in attendance, a comment that earned her much jeering as she disappeared behind the curtain.
A gaijin fan in the audience named Eric Reynolds had the honor of booking the evening's main event, which turned out to be a clash between "The Ruby Viper" Olivier Roy, and the Golden Hero, Kintaro Higashikata. Everyone realized something was up immediately, as "Eric Reynolds" just so happened to look very similar to Bryan Cade, the manager of Roy who accompanied him to the ring. Regardless of how he got the bout, though, a hyper-focused Roy took it to Kintaro from the opening bell. The Canadian very nearly stole the bout with a pair of rollups, then hoisted the Golden Hero on his shoulders for the Viper's Sting, hitting it for a two count broken just before three by Kintaro's boot on the bottom rope. Higashikata was able to rally against Roy, hitting a big Superman punch, and then the Based Arrow for the three count.
As Higashikata celebrated in the middle of the ring, the attention of the crowd suddenly shifted to the aisleway, where EXODUS superstar Chris Strike stood applauding! Strike entered the ring, and asked for a microphone. He praised both Higashikata and Four Islands as a whole, then dropped a bombshell - he would be making three appearances for FIPW over the course of the tour! While the first two were in negotiations, the final match had been confirmed - Chris Strike vs. Kintaro Higashikata, on the final night of the tour!
Higashikata extended a hand, which Strike shook, bringing an eventful first show to its conclusion.
FIPW "ADVENTURES IN KANTO ~ KORAKUEN," 1/27/2015
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1602 Fans - No Vacancy
1. Yoshida Emi Produce ~ BISHONEN STORM!: Keisuke Ozawa & Keiichi Ito & Shun Akiyama beat Toru Nakamura & Nobuo Iizuka & Yousuke Abe by pinfall (10:31) when Ozawa used the Tiger Driver on Abe.
2. Akiyama Masanori Produce ~ DESERT STRIKE VS. FOUR ISLANDS: Phillip Kennedy & Barista beat Tomohiro Ikeda & Kenichiro Honda by pinfall (8:49) when Kennedy used the Acecracker Larat on Ikeda.
3. Tanaka Reizo Produce ~ SAMOAN STORM STRONGEST?: Ofisa beat Alofa by pinfall (11:01) with a swan-dive headbutt.
4. Izumida Kanaye Produce ~ CLASH OF STYLES, CLASH OF CULTURES: Jun Nakagawa & Bubba Hayes & Brett Sanders beat Seymour Almasy & Patrick Flanagan & Masami Inoue (13:21) when Nakagawa used the Nihonjin Iron Claw Slam on Flanagan.
5. Takeda Junpei Produce ~ SUPLEX ACE vs. BRINGER OF THE ICE AGE: Ichiro Nakazawa & Kenjiro Ito fought to a draw (15:00) when the time limit expired.
6. Shimizu Yoshinari Produce ~ DAVID VS. GOLIATH: MAXIMUM beat Ryuji Kamigawa by submission (11:17) with the SubMAXXion.
7. Ebihara Kazuma Produce ~ ETERNAL VENGEANCE!: Akira Tamura beat Kiriko Miura (6:01) by disqualification.
8. "Eric Reynolds" Produce: Kintaro Higashikata beat Olivier Roy (w/ Bryan Cade) (21:08) by pinfall with the Based Arrow.