ShikariFC

October Contract news to start the month off, Heihachiro Sakai signed for three more years on an exclusive deal, Yasunobu Masuno was signed to a one year written extension prehaps a little suprisingly due to him featuring relatively little and in the same tone Necromancer two year exclusive written, Necromancer didn’t make the BOSJ and it was a bit of a shock to see him sign on again and to an exclusive deal. Americana became the first of the guys signed in the WLW raid of the previous year to be let go, his contract was allowed to run down. In light of the Matthew Keith interview the speculation was proven to be true, Kikkawa announced a 3 v 3 for Burning Harvest which would be Keith, Gauge and Gakusha vs Furusawa and two partners, as Furusawa was no longer affiliated to any stable there was much speculation as to who he might be able to convince to team up with him. After a pinfall victory over the champion in a multi man the previous month Sensational Dragon would get his title shot against Magnum Kobe, this was widely seen as the biggest threat that Kobe had faced to this date. Haranobu Kobayashi’s start to life with BHOTWG would continue with a match against Tatsuya Toshitara which was being billed as huge match for both competitors in terms of their future trajectory. Burning Harvest Nippon Budokan - 16,800 SELL OUT (Pre Show) Teruki Nakayama vs Shiki Saito vs Aio Bandai Flamboyance vs F.E.A.R (Munkata & SUKI) NEO (Sakai, MYSTIC Dragon, HDR, Takemura) vs Deluxe (Keith, Waldorf, Statler, The Architect) Kinnojo Horri vs Yasunobu Masuno Haranobu Kobayashi vs Tatsuya Toshitara #1 Contender Match For BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship Emerald Angel vs Elemental III Greg Gauge, Matthew Keith & Hiroyasu Gakusha vs Mabuchi Furusawa, Munemitsu Senmatsu & Aaron Andrews BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 52nd Champion Magnum Kobe vs Sensational Dragon Magnum Kobe stood in the middle of the ring at the close of the show after having beaten his biggest challenge yet in Sensational Dragon, it was however only going to continue on the same path as he was to face Emerald Angel in November after EA had won a number one contenders match earlier in the night. In a star studded 6 man to everyones shock Mabuchi Furusawa managed to recruit Munemitsu Senmatsu (god only knows how) and Aaron Andrews from TCW, Andrews apparently keen to face off against Gague in Japan, in a decent match Furusawa got his pinfall back over Gakusha as the issues between the two seemed to continue, after the match there was an argument of sorts between Senmatsu and Furusawa again raising the question of how Furusawa got him to participate in the first place. Toshitara beat Kobayashi in a match that failed to match up to its pre billing but was fine enough all the same, Kobayashi suffering his first defeat in BHOTWG and Toshitara hoping to muscle himself into relevancy. Kinnojo Horri got a win over fellow veteren Yasunobu Masuno, Horri spoke after the match about wanting one more run with the world championship. The opening match which was arguably the match of the night was a fantastic display of technical wrestling between F.E.A.R and Flamboyance, Suki getting the victory, Munkata after the match telling Flamboyance that they now owe him a tag title shot. October Game World Round Up - USPW rise to titanic - Dan Reacher opens KCCW (Kingdom Championship Class Wrestling) in Australia - Jay Chord joins CWA - WLW rise to medium - SWF opens the SWF Network - Tommy Cornell Leaves 21CW joins SWF

A Deluxe Year BHOTWG World Champion interviewed After picking up the World Championship In February Matthew Keith has gone from strength to strength, after defeating his twin brother in Aichi we caught up with the champion to talk about the fall out from that event and how he is feeling heading towards the end of the year. - Thank you for joining us Matthew, you've just come out of a successful defence against your twin brother, tell us your immediate thoughts about the match Keith: When Greg challenged me I was excited, I was glad to have the opportunity to beat him here in Japan and the match went as expected, I knew I would be pushed but I also knew he wouldn't have enough to take the belt from me. - Brother vs brother matches of that sort of high profile are very rare Keith: Exactly, I was glad to have the chance to do it with him. - After the match Mabuchi Furusawa attacked everyone in sight, was that something that shocked you? Keith: Hes clearly frustrated at himself for his own failures since losing the belt and I don't think blind siding people with chairs is the way to get a title shot here, Kikkawa-san will not be intimidated in that way - Aswell as your Deluxe mates rushing the ring there was also Hiroyasu Gakusha, this surprised many Keith: I have a lot of respect for Gakusha and he and Furusawa have had some on going issues, I think there needs to be some sort of conclusion to those issues but as I said earlier, Furusawa will not be getting a shot at this *gestures towards the title* - There had been rumours of a 3v3 being lined up for Burning Harvest? Keith: Well, I am not sure it is my place to say here and now but it has been spoken about - How would you feel about that? Keith: Greg is keen to come back to Japan, if it meant I could team with my brother, I would be interested. - Moving away from last nights events, it has been a great year for you so far, after the break up of NEO you very quickly formed Deluxe, can you lift the lid a little on how that came to be? Keith: Ah, as soon as the NEO war was lost I knew I wanted to head up my own thing, Waldorf and Statler were obvious choices to work with to start off. - The Architect came in not too long after... Keith: Yeah, I had my eye on a few people back when NEO was a thing, I love MAW and there are some exciting people there but The Architect was at the top of that list for sure. All of the boys have impressed in Japan and as a unit we are strong - You could say talent scouting is in your blood, can we expect more additions to Deluxe? Keith: Deluxe for me is about showcasing overseas talents here in japan, I wont use the "G" word as I know it upsets some people, we aren't a bunch of foreign guys coming in trying to interfere in matches and cause a whole bunch of chaos. Would I like to add more people to the group? 100% - Mid Atlantic Wrestling is a company you have mentioned, any other places you'd look for talent? Keith: There's a lot of good wrestling out there at the moment, the fans are very lucky, MAW for obvious reasons has a soft spot with me but its not like they are the only place id look for guys - Lets talk about the IWGP alliance a little bit, You've featured in TCW a few times as part of the ongoing relationship, how has that been for you? Keith: Wrestling in America is different but I enjoy it, IWGP alliance is working for everyone at the moment, BHOTWG are keen to expand internationally and this helps. - You won the title in America back at Warrior Globe, the whole tour was in North America, how was that experience? Keith: I think for the Japanese guys on the roster it was probably a little challenging, crowds can be quite different over there and attendances were not the best, I don't think that's a secret, personally it was nice to spend some time working home - You signed a new contract last year and you are living in Japan currently, you've worked here for nearly 8 years now, what does the future hold? Keith: I am very much an in the moment person, when I resigned in 2020 there was interest from Mexico but I chose to stay, having said that, in the wrestling world I do think generally overseas guys in Japan have a shelf life, its hard to spend your whole life away from home and by the time my contract comes up ill be 34, its still a while off yet but who knows what could happen. - Finally just to wrap this up, how do you feel about your current reign as champion? Keith: Ive beaten everyone they've put in front of me whether that be guys first challenges or veterans, ive had the chance to defend against TCW guys and all whilst heading up Deluxe, im very happy with how things are going and I am determind to have a long run with the richest prize in wrestling, the BHOTWG World Championship. October 23rd at Nippon Budokan BHOTWG will present Burning Harvest!

September Much of the card for Quest of Heart had been set from the previous months events, TCW star Greg Gauge was to challenge for the world title in the main event, both tag belts had number one contenders. Outside of this Junior Ace Team were to team up again to face the Senmatsu-gun team of Magnum Kobe and Munemitsu Senmatsu, the junior champion Kobe would be looking to get one over on two of the biggest threats to his reign. Mabuchi Furusawa after a loss against his former stable mates the previous month found himself being challenged by a junior heavyweight, Helikaon was not someone to be taken lightly. Elsewhere the debut of Haranobu Kobayashi was keenly anticipated, he would be facing Tadayuki 2000. Aichi Football Stadium – 27,571 (Pre Show) Deluxe (Waldorf, Statler and The Architect) vs Aio Bandai, Hiroaki Nakasawa & Shiki Saito F.E.A.R (Akio, Minamino, Suki & Munkata) vs NEO (Sakai, MYSTIC, Takemura & Sugiyama) Kobayashi Debut Match Haranobu Kobayashi vs Takayuki 2000 Helikaon vs Mabuchi Furusawa BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships 32nd Champions Flamboyance vs Rebel Run X Junior Ace Team vs Senmatsu-gun (Kobe & Senmatsu) BHOTWG World Tag Team Championships 29th Champions Serpents Head vs Senmatsu-gun (Kamioka & Shimakage) BHOTWG World Championship 37th Champion Mattew Keith vs Greg Gauge Matthew Keith successfully saw off the challenge of his twin brother, after the match there was a clearly forced handshake particularly on Gauges part, whilst the two were still in ring together Mabuchi Furusawa flew into the ring swinging a chair at anyone within reach, Keith clocked a shot clean over the head, Furusawa had a quick back and forth with Gauge before managing to lay him out, Furusawa clearly still enraged after his many set backs over the last month, he managed to vacate the ring as members of Deluxe rushed now the ramp followed by Hiroyasu Gakusha, Gakusha addressed the crowd and Furusawa “You seem to be making a lot of enemies of late you bastard! And you have no allies, I would watch your back!” Furusawa disappeared amongst the crowd as Keith and Gauge both came to in the ring. New tag team champions were crowned as Kamioka and Shimakage added some more gold to Senmatsu-gun, their stable mate Magnum Kobe however did not have a good night, taking the pin from Sensational Dragon in the tag match which almost certainly would lead to a title match the following month. Flamboyance gaining confidence and popularity made a strong defence of their titles. Haranobu Kobayashi won his debut match with BHOTWG, after the match Tatsuya Toshitara came down to the ring to help Tadayuki 2000 with whom he had started tagging with during the harvest tour, before leaving Toshitara would lay down a challenge to Kobayashi for the following month, Toshitara had been somewhat the forgotten man of late and this would be a big match for both competitors. September Game World Round Up - Bidding war for Jay Chord begins involving TCW,USPW,SWF & CWA

International Wrestling Grand Prix Press Release The IWGP are today happy to announce the expansion of the alliance. Since the IWGP's inception we have been very happy to see BHOTWG and TCW work closely together, and showcase each others talents in both Japan and America, after a period of negotiation and some discourse between all involved parties we are happy to announced the addition of Comite Internacional de Lucha Libre - CILL. This addition spreads the IWGP alliance into a third country and opens up a new load of opportunities for wrestlers on all three promotions rosters. CILL joining will be marked with BHOTWG'S Hijo Del Relampago heading to Mexico to make up to 6 appearances with CILL

August Early in the month the challenger picture for the Junior Heavyweight Championship was cleared up when it was announced that MYSTIC Dragon had requested, and had his request accepted, that his challenge for the title as BOSJ winner would take place at the end of the year at Night Of The Burning Hammer, this meant that Pretty Okakura would challenge immediately and the match was set for Summit Challenge. Serpents Head seemingly intent on adding the World Championship to their group would have another chance in August as Koshiro Ino, like Pretty Okakura, would have the chance to become a double champion. This would mean that both the tag titles would go undefended and in both cases there would be number one contender matches for the belts, on the junior side Rebel Run X would face off against the F.E.A.R duo of Akio and Ko Minamino and the new team of Panda Mask II and Ninja Shunji – the Panda and the Ninja. The heavyweight match would be The Ring Generals up against Senmatsu-guns heavyweight tag team Shimakage and Kamioka. The continuing situation between former members of The Golden Army would roll through august, Furusawa still carrying the GCG title (despite not being a recognised champion or a recognised active championship) had demanded a three way match against Gakusha and Takayuki 2000, Gakusha himself had issues with Takayuki for walking out on him so he was happy to accept. During the tour Kenta Watoga picked up an injury, a broken forearm, keeping him on the sidelines for around 2 months, White Angel also picked up a minor injury that would keep him out for 2 months. Through August a contract offer was made to Haranobu Kobayashi who was wrestling for both PGHW and BCG, what would concern Kikkawa was the bidding war they were pulled into as both PGHW and BCG were in a financial position strong enough to also table exclusive written deals after a few weeks of back and forth BHOTWG manage to secure Kobayashi’s services, what was seen at the time as a much needed bolster to the heavyweight division. Kobe Football Stadium – 29,546 (Pre Show) The Architecht vs Teruki Nakayama NEO (Youngman, Sakai & MYSTIC Dragon) vs Tsuneyo Yanagimoto, Aio Bandai & Hiroaki Nakasawa Munemitsu Senmatsu, Kazunori Yamura & Shiki Saito vs Elemental III & Junior Ace Team #1 Contender Match For The BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships Rebel Run X vs The Panda & The Ninja vs F.E.A.R (Akio & Minamino) #1 Contender Match For The BHOTWG World Tag Team Championships The Ring Generals vs Senmatsu-gun (Kamioka & Shimakage) Mabuchi Furusawa vs Hiroyasu Gakusha vs Takayuki 2000 BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 52nd Champion Magnum Kobe vs Pretty Okakura BHOTWG World Championship 37th Champion Matthew Keith vs Koshiro Ino A very close to a sell out crowd saw Koshiro Ino fall short in his challenge for the richest prize in Japanese wrestling, a match that made more than a few people start to wonder if Inos time as a top of the card singles competitor was coming to an end. After the match Matthew Keith picked up the mic to address the crowd, he began listing the people he has beaten in defence of this title “Furusawa, Sakai, Gakusha, Gensai and now Ino ….” Just as he was about to continue the lights went out and on the tron appeared an image that initially confused the Kobe crowd, it appeared that Matthew Keith was on the tron talking to Matthew Keith in the ring … Greg Gauge, Keiths real life twin brother spoke to the crowd “Hello Brother..... shocked to see me? Ill cut to the chase, I challenged for that title last year and came oh so close, I cant resist the temptation to challenge you, my own flesh and blood, on my return to Japan.... next month” The crowd popped loud and the lights came back up and the tron faded to black, it appeared the main event for Quest of Heart was set. After the triple threat between former Golden Army members Furusawa attempted to jump both of the other men with the GCG title only to have Gakusha and Takayuki team up to lay him out, the two taking the belt with them. Elsewhere on the card Magnum Kobe retained his title, challengers for both of the tag belts were set and we saw young lions feature on the main card of a big event again. August Game World Round Up - TCW fall to medium - MAW end agreement to accept developmental workers from TCW - CWW rise to tiny

July In personnel news to start the month off Masaya Hara’s excursion ended and he left England, though he was not offered a deal with BHOTWG, Kikkawa had not seen enough from him to offer a contract and the feeling was that Hara would have to work through the indies if he wanted a place back with BHOTWG. Elsewhere Chaos Khans contract was allowed to run down and he would leave the company the following month, VENOM had earned an extension but only on a handshake deal. This years BOSJ was two blocks of 8 (which was an increase from the 7 of last year) the tour again spanned every region in Japan, the junior division boasted a lot of depth and quality and it was a very keenly anticipated tournament. The final block standings were as followed Block A 1 Sensational Dragon 13 points 2 Emerald Angel 10 points 3 Kazunori Yamura 10 points 4 Magnum Kobe 9 points 5 Pretty Okakura 4 points 6 Akio 4 points 7 Hijo Del Relampago 4 points 8 White Angel 2 points Sensational Dragon topping his block for the second year in a row and thus making his third finals appearance, having won one and lost one of the previous two. Magnum Kobe struggled to assert himself despite being the current Junior Heavyweight Champion. Block B 1 MYSTIC Dragon 12 points 2 Toju Munkata 10 points 3 Tsuneyo Yanagimoto 10 points 4 Elemental III 10 points 5 Helikaon 8 points 6 Ko Minamino 4 points 7 Panda Mask II 2 points 8 Frankie Boy Fernandez 0 points Block B finishing tighter at the top than Block A, MYSTIC Dragon topping the group with Tsuneyo Yanagimoto impressing in his first BOSJ, Frankie Boy Frenandez being the only competitor across both blocks to not manage a single point. Meiji Jingu Stadium – 35,484 Senmatsu-gun (Kobe & Shimakage) vs F.E.A.R (SUKI & Munkata) Kinnojo Horri, Hiroaki Nakasawa & Teruki Nakayama vs Serpents Head (Ino, Watoga & Gensai) Deluxe (Keith, Statler, Wardorf & The Architecht) vs NEO (Sakai, Takemura, HDR & Miyamoto) Elemental III, Emerald Angel & Akio vs Frankie Boy Fernandez, White Angel & Panda Mask II #1 Contender Match For The BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Champiosnhip Kazunori Yamura vs Pretty Okakura Best Of The Super Juniors Final MYSTIC Dragon vs Sensational Dragon BOSJ XXII became the highest attended event in the Kikkawa era by over 5,000 ticket sold, in the open aired baseball stadium Meiji Jingu Stadium. Sensational Dragon lost his second BOSJ final in a row as he remained a four time winner still seeking his fifth. MYSTIC Dragon won his first and would set up a championship match somewhere down the line against Magnum Kobe, MYSTIC Dragon would surely be feeling good about this after Kobes largely uninspiring tournament. The same could be said for Pretty Okakura who, after being one of the two people to beat Kobe in the block earned a number one contenders match and would go onto win, Okakura himself also had a poor tournament but now was in line to become a double champion. The card elsewhere saw remaining contestants in the BOSJ compete in a 6 man and a rare appearance on the main card for a young lion in a losing effort in a 6 man. Summit Challenge would follow in August and as it stood Magnum Kobe was facing two challengers, fans awaited news of whom would challenge first. July Game World Round Up - WLW change booker, Haru Kurofuji stepping down Naizen Uboshita taking up the role - Sammy Bach leaves TCW joins SWF on

June The card for The Warriors Hammer came together quite nicely and was set up from the early part of the month, some of it relating to the fall out from the anniversary show, Gakusha and Furusawa were set to face off one on one after the latters jump attack after the previous event, Furusawa had appealed to Kikkawa to have the match a title match for the GCG title, something that Kikkawa had turned down (It had emerged that BHOTWG had bought the title and all associated rights to it) Matthew Keith was to defend his title before the heavyweights (mostly) had the month off in June to make way for the juniors to take the spotlight, Koshiro Ino put forward his tag team partner Michio Gensai as a challenger, Gensai had started to really flourish alongside Ino, Ino would also let everybody know that at The Warriors Hammer he would be facing Keith’s Deluxe mates The Ring Generals in a tag match and that his partner would be the third member of Serpents Head. Elsewhere on the card Flamboyance would have the task of trying to dislodge Junior Ace Team from the top of the tag division and there would also be a 6 man preview for the BOSJ featuring 6 competitors, this match would take place after the block announcement. Ryushi Sato & Masakazu Kaima left BHOTWG this month The Warriors Hammer Yokohama Arena – 17,000 SELL OUT (Pre Show) Gonkuro Kamioka, Hiroaki Nakasawa & Kinnojo Horri vs Aio Bandai, Shiki Saito & Teruki Nakayama Suki, Toju Munkata and Necromancer vs NEO (Heihachiro Sakai, Ernest Youngman and Chomei Sugiyama) Koshiro Ino & Kenta Watoga vs The Ring Generals BOSJ Preview 6 Man Elemental III, Ko Minamino & Helikaon vs Magnum Kobe, Akio & Panda Mask II Hiroyasu Gakusha vs Mabuchi Furusawa BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships 31st Champions Junior Ace Team vs Flamboyance BHOTWG World Championship 37th Champion Matthew Keith vs Michio Gensai Matthew Keith successfully retained in what would be his last defence until August, owing to July being the month of the juniors, Gensai putting up a good fight though falling some way short. Keith being allowed to celebrate his victory in peace was able to close the show with a few words followed by confetti falling. Flamboyance were finally able to end Junior Ace Teams 13 month hold on the Junior Tag Championships, Okakaura and Yanagimoto picking up their first titles in BHOTWG. Many expected Junior Ace Team would be clashing together for the BOSJ title the following month, arguably the biggest talking point of the block announcement that was made earlier in the night was that they would both be in the same block. In the match of the night Furusawa defeated his former stable mate Gakusha, a match that the former wanted to be for the Golden Canvas Grappling Championship but Kikkawa put a stop to that, Furusawa wore the belt to the ring and attempted to intimidate the ring announcer into announcing the match as a title match. Elsewhere on the card Koshiro Ino continued to revel in his recruiting prowess for whichever stable he represents, revealing Kenta Watoga as the newest member of Serpents Head, Watoga having come into the company during the WLW raid, he was now wrestling under his real name. All focus now turned to Best Of The Super Juniors June Game World Round Up - Mighty Cavanagh leaves PGHW, joins CWA - Hiroyasu Gakusha joins SAISHO (handshake deal)

Into 2021 on my save and I've picked up Mainstream Hernandez after SWF let his deal run down

Echoing previous comments, my cverse saves are full of your graphics

Best Of The Super Juniors XXII Line Up Announcement A BLOCK Emerald Angel Sensational Dragon 4x BOSJ Winner Magnum Kobe Senmatsu-gun & Current BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Champion Kazunori Yamura Senmatsu-gun Pretty Okakura Current BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Akio F.E.A.R Hijo Del Relampago NEO White Angel B BLOCK MYSTIC Dragon NEO Toju Munkata F.E.A.R & 1X BOSJ Winner Elemental III 4x BOSJ Winner Helikaon Deluxe & 1x BOSJ Winner Tsuneyo Yanagimoto Current BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Ko Minamino F.E.A.R Panda Mask II Frankie Boy Fernandes Coastal Zone Championship Wrestling

May The Fire Dream Cup debuted, a field of 16 men in an elimination tournament concluding at the end of the month. The semi finals were Dean Waldorf vs Hiroyasu Gauksha and Koshiro Ino vs Tatsuya Toshitara. Waldorf had an impressive run to the semis showcasing that he was much more than just a tag star. Through the tour Junior Ace Team had lambasted the lack of challengers for their junior tag titles so at Fire Dream Of The Immortals they had decided between themselves that they would have a special one on one match. Akio would be stepping up to the plate to try and bring gold back to F.E.A.R as he would be Magnum Kobe’s first challenger. Matthew Keith, whom hadnt participated in the cup as he was the world champion, would be leading Deluxe teaming up as a 5 for the first time against a NEO team that would consist of Ernest Youngman, Youngman was a new signee for TCW and it had been announced that he would be spending a month or so in Japan as part of the IWGP alliance. Ryushi Sato’s contract was left to run down in May, Sato who graduated from the BHOTWG dojo in 2008 failed to ever really make an impression and was a bit part player for NEO for the previous few years, another contract that was allowed to run down was that of Masakazu Kaima. On the other side of contract news the at the time injured and highly injury prone Crimson Ghost was given a two year contract extension, on an exclusive written deal. Fire Dream Of The Immortals Kobe Football Stadium – 30,000 SELL OUT (Pre Show) Pretty Okakura, Panda Mask II & Shogun Watoga vs Aio Bandai, Shiki Saito & Teruki Nakayama Elemental III vs Tsuneyo Yanagimoto Senmatsu-gun (Senmatsu, Shimakage & Kamioka) vs F.E.A.R (Munkata, SUKI & Minamino) Mabuchi Furusawa & Takayuki 2000 vs Hiroaki Nakasawa & Kinnojo Horri Deluxe (Keith, Waldorf, Statler, The Architect & Helikaon) vs NEO (Sakai, Youngman, MYSTIC Dragon, Takemura & HDR) Emerald Angel vs Sensational Dragon BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 52nd Champion Magnum Kobe vs Akio Fire Dream Cup Final Hiroyasu Gakusha vs Koshiro Ino The first winner of The Fire Dream Cup was Hiroyasu Gakusha, weeks after speculating as to the end of The Golden Army their leader seemed to have rallied himself to victory here, he would go onto state that as the winner of the cup he will be challenging for the world title at the anniversary event a short while after this. Magunum Kobe sucessfully defended his title for the first time in a strong performance, elswhere for the juniors Junior Ace Team had their solos match in what was the match of the night, Sensational Dragon coming out victorious, after the match Flamboyance (Okakura and Yanagimoto) confronted them and challenged them to a tag title match, Junior Ace Team said it would be an easy defence and accepted. Neo with Ernest Youngman in their ranks picked up a victory, Youngman continuing his time in Japan with a pinfall victory here. Onto the Anniversary show the second marquee match after the world title bout was to be Junior Ace Team going up against heavyweight tag champs Serpents Head, Angel and Dragon were extremely dismissive of any junior challengers (despite the fact they had accepted Flamboyance's challenge) and wanted to step up to the heavyweights and show they were top of the company. BHOTWG 55th Anniversary Show Ota Ward Gymnasium – 5,000 SELL OUT Mabuchi Furusawa vs The Architect Elemental III, Flamboyance & Hit And Run vs Aio Bandai, Teruki Nakayama, Necromancer, Ko Minamino & Panda Mask II Junior Ace Team vs Serpents Head BHOTWG World Championship 37th Champion Matthew Keith vs Hiroyasu Gakusha Fire Dream Cup winner Hiroyasu Gakusha took Matthew Keith to the limit but was ultimately unable to take the belt home. Matthew Keith cleared the ring pretty quickly and Gakusha was left soaking up the crowds applause, Tadayuki 2000 and Mabuchi Furusawa joined the ring and there was a moment where the three men shared some words, Gakusha had hinted at the break up of The Golden Army and many thought this was that moment, it was then that something was slid across the ring in a bag that hit the back of Furusawas leg, he took the mysterious bag and looked in it, nobody could see what it was and then in a sudden movement Furusawa turned and nailed Gakusha with the mystery object, Tadayuki 2000 did nothing for a while he stared from the grounded Gakusha back to Furusawa and then slowly backed out of the ring, boos gradually built up around the venue, it was then that Furusawa lifted the mystery object and it was …......... the Golden Canvas Grappling title May Game World Round Up - Nelson Callum joins TCW - Adam Matravers leaves 21CW joins SWF

I love a bit of GLEAT so i shall follow this

April 2021 April began with the announcement of a tag team tournament across the prophecy tour to decide a #1 contender for Test Of Prophecies, 5 teams in a league style system, the matches bulked out the tour shows and added something a bit extra. After debuting the previous month Magnum Kobe was confirmed to be next in line for a junior heavyweight title shot, he went through the tour with Senmatsu-gun looking strong and many predicted him to quickly end Toju Munkatas reign. Matthew Keith geared up for his first defence, the champion looking very strong backed by his stable Deluxe. News was leaked to the dirtsheets that Kikkawa had made an audacious attempt to tempt Nicky Champion away from USPW when his contract was up for renewal, it was said that BHOTWG tabled an offer but financially it could not compete with USPWs there was also interest from elsewhere with TCW, SWF and EILL putting forward offers. The Golden Army won the tag tournament, finishing on the same amount of points as the team of Nakasawa and Horri but they held the tie breaker over them. Kanagawa Stadium – 30,000 SELL OUT (Pre Show) Yasunobu Masuno, Shiki Saito & Teruki Nakayama vs Aio Bandai, Kinnojo Horri & Hiroaki Nakasawa Mabuchi Furusawa vs Tatsuya Toshitara Deluxe (Statler, Waldorf & The Architect) vs NEO (Helikaon, MYSTIC Dragon & Takemura) Panda Mask II & Junior Ace Team vs Flamboyance & Elemental III BHOTWG World Tag Team Championships 29th Champions Serpents Head vs The Golden Army (Gakusha & Takayuki 200) BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 51st Champion Toju Munkata vs Magnum Kobe BHOTWG World Championship 37th Champion Matthew Keith vs Heihachiro Sakai From start to finish an extremely strong show, at the time it was considered the best in BHOTWG’s new era. Keith and Sakai put on a classic main event, Keith winning via the proton lock after 27 minutes, no challenges after this main event and as the streamers rained down upon Keith attention began to shift to the first ever Fire Dream Cup the following month. Magnum Kobe in less than a month in the company won a singles belt as he beat Munkata after gaining so much momentum through the tour shows it seemed inevitable that he would win, Senmatsu-gun, in their minds atleast, settling the score with Munkata once and for all. Momentum played in Kobe’s favour but it didn’t play in The Golden Armys favour, despite winning the tag tournament they didn’t have enough to beat Serpents Head, Gakusha and Takayuki 2000 leaving the ring looking dejected. Earlier in the night after NEOs loss to Deluxe salt was rubbed into the wound where to gasps from the crowd Helikaon turned on his two team mates beating them into the mat, Deluxe whom had previously left the ring came back in and after a short while Waldorf tossed Helikaon a Deulxe t shirt, it was put on and Helikaon switches his allegiance to Deluxe. Backstage Hiroyasu Gakusha spoke about his disappointment at The Golden Armys failure to win back tag team gold, he would go onto say that this may be the end of the stable as a whole, after SUKI left, Furusawa is now a well-established member of the roster and Gakusha wondered if they as a unit had anymore goals left. April Game World Round Up - PGHW change from royal puro to classic mainstream puro - USPW fall to Medium - Cameron Vessey leaves CWA and joins USPW - Leigh Burton leaves 21CW and joins USPW - Joshua Taylor leaves TCW and joins SWF – ending his appearances for BHOTWG - Ernest Youngman joins TCW

March 2021 Back in Japan and another new tour added to the calendar by Kikkawa, the Syndicate tour culminating in Syndicate Of Fire at the end of the month. Mabuchi Furusawa would immediately be attempting to win back the World Title, Gakusha took the pin in the 3 way and Furusawa was able to use that to negotiate a rematch. Toju Munkata’s offer was accepted by Elemental III and their match was set, Elemental III had not looked himself since injury and this would be a big test for him. Junior Ace Team (Emerald Angel & Sensational Dragon) had initially challenged the heavyweight tag team champions Serpents Head to a match at syndicate to unify the belts, this idea was rejected by Kikkawa (and also Koshiro Ino) however Ino returned with a counter offer “if you guys think youre all that, if you think you can step up to the heavyweights, how about I bring someone over from America and you face me and a partnter of my choosing at Syndicate Of Fire?” this was a challenge that Junior Ace Team were never likely to reject. Kinnojo Horri, another man who seemed a shadow of his pre injury self, had spoken about feeling a little lost since return, new faces had arrived, new champions had been crowned and NEO Prime were no more, The Golden Army duo of Hiroyasu Gakusha and Takayuki 2000 had offered Horri a match at Syndicate Of Fire if he could find a partner, the two veterens stated they felt for Horri and wanted to help him find his spark again. In terms of match and show quality the tour was great and very well received, this heightened anticipation for the first ever Syndicate Of Fire event. Elsewhere in news relating to BHOTWG, whilst out on excursion Masaya Hara won CWW’s (Championship Wrestling From Wigan) King Of The North tournament. Syndicate Of Fire Yokohama Arena – 17,000 SELL OUT (Pre Show) F.E.A.R (SUKI, Minamino & Akio) vs Shiki Saito, Teruki Nakayama & Aio Bandai Helikaon Return Match NEO (Helikaon, MYSTIC Dragon & Takemura) vs Deluxe (Waldorf, Statler & The Architect) Senmatsu-gun (Shimakage & Kamioka) vs Tatsuya Toshitara & Shogun Watoga Special Singles Match Heihachiro Sakai vs Munemitsu Senmatsu Kinnojo Horri & Hiroaki Nakasawa vs The Golden Army (Gakusha & Takayuki 2000) Junior Ace Team vs Koshiro Ino & Aaron Andrews Time limit draw BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 51st Champion Toju Munkata vs Elemental III BHOTWG World Championship 37th Champion Matthew Keith vs Mabuchi Furusawa Matthew Keith held off the challenge of the former champion in a great match that rounded off a strong show. Keiths challenger would present himself after the main event, Heihachiro Sakai after winning his earlier singles match against Munemistu Senmatsu, flanked by members of NEO he laid out his challenge which would be accepted. Toju Mukata also made a successful defence though it may have been much harder than he might have expected as Elemental III really rallied after his slow start from injury, it was however after the match that things got much worse for Munkata as he was jumped by Senmatsu-gun lead by their leader, the group still persuing Munkata it seemed “You think you can just walk away from Senmatsu-gun?” Said Munemistsu Senmatsu as other members of his stable held up Toju who was unable to stand under his own weight it was then that a hooded figure slid into the ring, there was a moment where the crowd were unsure if the figure was here to aid Munkata though that question was soon answered where the Senmatsu-gun members pushed Munkata into the hooded figures path and he executed a picture perfect tiger suplex to Munkata, it was then that Senmatsu, standing next to the mystery man ripped off his hood to reveal the blazing red hair of Magnum Kobe “Magnum Kobe is Senmatsu-gun" Senmatsu said menacingly into the mic as Kobe lifted the junior belt above his head, F.E.A.R members came sprinting down the ramp but it was too little too late, Senmatsu-gun vacated the ring and walked back up the rampway, Magnum Kobe debuting in Senmatsu-gun. Koshiro Ino mystery partner was TCW superstar Aaron Andrews who made his return to a BHOTWG, the match with Junior Ace Team was a great match then went to a 30 minute time limit draw. Kinnojo Horri chose Hiroaki Nakasawa as his partner against The Golden Army and they managed to pick up a victory, backstage Horri would comment that maybe his and Nakasawas partnership was good for them both at this stage, Nakasawa no long being able to challenge for the world title, Horri needing to find his rhythm again, both men agreed that it may be time for them to persue tag gold. Elswhere on the card Helikaon returned from injury along side his NEO stable mates, Helikaon who was originally supposed to feature in the Neo final war was injured prior to it and he was clearly happy his side won despite his absence, after the match and his winning effort there was an interesting point of note after the match where he faced down the three Deluxe members before gesturing that they leave the ring without anymore physical contact. March Game World Round Up - QPW (Quebec Pro Wrestling) opens in Canada - QPW joins COTT - USPW fall to large

February 2021 BHOTWG’s first fully overseas tour and Kikkawas first real stab into international markets since signing the tour highlights deal with OnDem. The tour started in Canada with a show in Ontario and then trickled down America, whilst the shows were good the attendances were not the best and the tour proved to be costly. One of the noteable upsides of the tour was the feeling backstage towards The Architect whom had impressed many during his first tour, especially road agent Natsu Miyamae. In contract news Takayuki 2000 signed a new deal, a 2 year written deal that was on a per show basis, it was said that BHOTWG at this stage of Takayukis career were happy with him working elsewhere, hence the written contract as opposed to exclusive written. Elemental III signed a 2 year exclusive written contract extension and Current junior heavyweight champion Toju Munkata signed a 4 year exclusive written contract extension – Kikkawa showing how impressed he had been with Munkata during his singles push. Midway through the month BHOTWG entered into a bidding war with PGHW for their current Glory Crown Champion Magnum Kobe, PGHW had turned around their finances from the brink of potential financial ruin so they had the money now to throw at this to try and keep hold of one of their top stars, however they couldn’t do enough to keep a hold of him and Kobe signed for BHOTWG on a 3 year exclusive written contract. Voltage Lounge, Philadelphia – 126 (Pre Show) Aio Bandai, Shiki Saito & Yasunobu Masuno vs Teruki Nakayama, Elemental III & White Angel NEO (MYSTIC, Sakai & HDR) vs Tatsuya Toshitara, Shogun Watoga & Hiroaki Nakasawa The Architect vs Chaos Khan BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships 31st Champions Junior Ace Team vs Flamboyance BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 51st Champion Toju Munkata vs Kazunori Yamura BHOTWG World Tag Team Championships 28th Champions The Ring Generals vs Serpents Head BHOTWG World Championship 36th Champion Mabuchi Furusawa vs Matthew Keith vs Hiroyasu Gakusha Matthew Keith regained the World Championship and would begin his second reign after victory in the main event, he would speak in the ring after the match about how life has only got better and better for him since NEO Prime ended and Deluxe formed. His Deluxe stable mates The Ring Generals however lost their championships to Koshiro Ino and Michio Gensai whom were now teaming under the name Serpents Head, Ino who was always a keen recruiter for NEO and NEO Prime hinted backstage at Serpents Head being more than just a tag team. Toju Munkata found some vengence against Senmatsu-gun as he defeated his former tag team partner Kazunori Yamura, in his post match comments Munkata made the suprising move of offering a title match to Elemental III, Munkata said that he saw Elemental III had struggled since returning from injury and in what came across as a rather degrading comment said he wished to “help Elemental to reach my level”. Junior Ace Team proved hugely popular in America and Canada which was a bright spot for Kikkawa in what was otherwise a bit of a failed project, though the exact finances were never revealed it was said that this tour was extremely costly. Despite this the tour highlights deal with OnDem was extended for another 6 months. February In Game Round Up - USPW rise to titanic - El Leon, Frankie Perez, Kate Lilly & Debbie Rose (amongst others) sign for USPW - MAW rise to small

January 2021 The new year started with a new annual event previously announced by Kikkawa along with a shake up to the calendar. New Years Flame was created with the image of being a starting point for the new year, new fueds, potentially new signings, stable movements etc, as was the case with the first installment of New Years Flame where Matthew Keith wasted no time after NEO Primes demise in announcing he was forming a stable that debuted that night “Deluxe” consisting of himself & the tag team champions The Ring Generals. New Years Flame Tokoyo International Centre – 5,100 SELL OUT Yasunobu Masuno, Akio, Eagle Kawasawa & Ninja Shunji vs White Angel, VENOM, Tatsuya Toshitara & Panda Mask II Chaos Khan vs SUKI Koshiro Ino & Michio Gensai vs Shiki Saito & Shogun Watoga Americana, Necromancer & Junior Ace Team vs Pretty Okakura, Tsuneyo Yanagimoto & Hit And Run Hiroaki Nakasawa, Aio Bandai & Teruki Nakayama vs Deluxe (Keith, Statler & Waldorf) Senmatsu-gun (Senmatsu & Yamura) vs Toju Munkata & Ko Minamino NEO (Sakai, Sugiyama & HDR) vs The Golden Army (Furusawa, Gakusha & Takayuki 2000) Deluxe debuted as a stable with a win over Nakasawa and a pair of young lions, in the fallout of the Senmatsu-gun vs Munkata and Minamino match Senmatsu-gun jumped the winners after the match enraged when running down to make the save were Akio and to everyones Surprise SUKI... once Senmatsu-gun were chased off Munkata, Minamino, Akio and SUKI stood in the ring and shook hands, confirming backstage that they were forming a stable to be known as F.E.A.R, SUKI leaving The Golden Army to be, as Munkata would say in his comments “a credible heavyweight treated with value unlike in his former group” Between New Years Flame and the start of the Fighting Start Tour the first signing of the year was made, 28 year old American The Architect signed on a two year written deal (allowing him to still work in America) he was to join Matthew Keiths stable and become the fourth member of Deluxe. There was excitement around the announcement of Elemental III’s return from injury with his first match back being against Ko Minamino at Fighting Start. A big match announced was Matthew Keith vs Koshiro Ino, Keith wanting to face his former stable mate in a rivalry that had started during their time together in NEO Prime. Fighting Start Nippon Budokan – 16,800 (Pre Show) Aio Bandai, Shiki Saito & Panda Mask II vs Necromancer, Masakazu Kaima & Teruki Nakayama Hiroyasu Gakusha v Tatsuya Toshitara Deluxe (Waldorf, Statler & The Architecht) vs NEO (Sakai, MYSTIC Dragon & Takemura) Americana & Junior Ace Team vs Reijiro Hiraki & Flamboyance Senmatsu-gun (Senmatsu, Shimakage, Kamioka) vs F.E.A.R (Munkata, SUKI & Akio) Elemental III Return Elemental III vs Ko Minamino Matthew Keith vs Koshiro Ino BHOTWG World Championship 36th Champion Mabuchi Furusawa vs Kinnojo Horri A modest start to the year at Nippon Budokan with the return of Elemental III and Kinnojo Horri but both looked some way off their former selves and the feeling around BHOTWG was a nervous one, hoping that they would both get back to form with more matches under their belts. Matthew Keith and Hiroyasu Gakusha both picked up impressive wins and both staked claims to the #1 contendership, it was decided that in America the following month at Warrior Globe the main event would be a 3 way for the World Championship. Toju Munkata and F.E.A.R failed to get one up on Senmatsu-gun in a war that didn’t show signs of ending anytime soon. Pretty Okakura and Tsuneyo Yanagimoto now going under the tag team name of Flamboyance picked up a 3v3 victory over the Junior tag title holders and would be hoping for a shot down the line. Nothing to report in the game world round up for this month

Thanks for the kind words! glad youre enjoying c-verse

Running out of superlatives for your work! the 5SSW set is arguably your best!

A Year In The Books! So that's a year done! thanks to everyone who's replied or liked the posts! I wasn't sure how many people would read or how long I would carry on posting but I have been enjoying tidying up the notes id made into this format, I'm well into 2021 on the save so I've plenty of months of the new year to post, which I think I will do! Just wanted to post about some things that happened through the save to this point and add some ooc context to a few bits that went on/are going on Use Of The Editor/ Excursions Both of these topics sort of blend into one, the game does not do the excursion system well at all, I've played BCG into the 2030's in the past so I already knew this, so what I've had to do with the two workers that start off in Mexico is edit their pop up and up til they started getting bookings (had to up their Mexican pop to 40) the next problem I had was one of my own making, when I began the save I didn't activate Europe, not really realising BHOTWG had a European affiliate for excursions, so Masaya Hara was doing nothing, I had to get CWW to hire him so he has something to do, and again along the same lines when I sent Takenori Doi to America I bumped his pop so he would get booked. Whilst I love the excursion system IRL it really just doesn't work on the game, I have toyed with the idea of setting up a developmental company and call it something like "Tokyo City Wrestling" and maybe just using excursions for the odd worker. Finances So generally every promotion in the world just banks money - I have set up a few future economic crisis's to try and negate this a little bit. PGHW for a while were losing 6 figures a month and I at one point thought id be buying them out for them to be my developmental but they lowered all their production values and such and ended up turning it around. SAISHO are losing money each month but its usually 500/600 dollars a month and its not going to cause a problem for a long time. FCW look like they are going out of business within the next game year. Matthew Keith Contract I wasn't expecting anyone else to offer a deal, least of all EILL, after they made the offer he was listed as preferring their deal, I offered again and then it said he was seriously considering both at which point I just left it down to the game, in hindsight its a good thing he did sign as the heavyweight division at the top end of the card for a company of BHOTWG size isn't the best and Keith its probably the top performer, if not top second. WLW War So id been thinking of some ideas for narratives to run along side the regular title matches etc and this fell into my lap once I saw the news items that they had tried to sabotage shows. In reality it didn't really have any effect on WLW, I couldn't take their top guy (Masa Kurata) cause of his loyalty, I guess in reflection I could have signed him anyway and he would have prioritised bookings with BHOTWG but id rather have had him exclusive. After gutting their roster, taking announcers, refs, road agents it didn't really effect them, they lost about 5 points at most of their shows and within a few weeks they had replaced the key staff. Changes To Calendar From a story perspective I liked the idea of a new owner wanting to put his stamp on things, from a game perspective cause every single event was set to highly regarded atleast it was causing me problems every month with workers being unhappy if they were left off the card so by adding some new stuff that balances that out a little bit. Also the addition of a heavyweight tournament just seemed to make sense. Signings So I've tried in the main to not go OTT with signings. Within Japan the people id really want have loyalty preventing exclusive deals. I was pleased to get Furusawa though its taken A LOT to get him from unimportant to well known. I'm having the same problem with Okakura and Yanagimoto. Overseas stars I've resisted the temptation to sign Youngman, I did it on my long term BCG save and he turns into an absolute beast, same for Wolfsbaine. Into 2021 I have made one American signing, someone whom is a bit of a more outside name when it comes to the usual TEW indie guys, or at least I think so anyway. Graphics/Mods Im running a couple of future worker mods (hence Shiki Saito) and also just wanted to say the usual thank yous to the graphics makers of the forums

BHOTWG 2020 Review Current Champions BHOTWG World Champion - Mabuchi Furusawa BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Champion - Toju Munkata BHOTWG World Tag Team Champions - The Ring Generals (Dean Waldorf & Marv Statler) BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships - Junior Ace Team (Sensational Dragon & Emerald Angel) Top Five Events Sword Of Destiny (May) 85 Summit Challenge 5 (August) 85 Quest Of Heart (September) 82 BOSJ Day 2 (July) 81 The Burning Path V (January) 81 Top Five Matches Sensational Dragon vs Emerald Angel (Fire Dream Of The Immortals, March) 91 Matthew Keith vs Heihachiro Sakai (Test Of Prophecies, August) 88 Matthew Keith vs Hiroaki Nakasawa (Sword Of Destiny, May) 88 Junior Ace Team vs Helikaon & MYSIC Dragon (Quest Of Heart, September) 87 Emerald Angel & Elemental III vs Sesnational Dragon & MYSTIC Dragon (The Burning Path V, January) 86

End Of 2020 Continued Biggest Fanbases In Japan United States Pro Wrestling Burning Hammer Of The Wrestling Gods Pride Glory Honour Wrestling World Level Wrestling Black Canvas Grappling Biggest Fanbases In World United States Pro Wrestling Supreme Wrestling Federation Total Championship Wrestling 21st Century Wrestling Burning Hammer Of The Wrestling Gods

End Of Year Awards 2020 Wrestler Of The Year – Aaron Andrews (TCW) first time winner Company Of The Year- Total Championship Wrestling Team Of The Year – Jack & Ricky DeColt (CWA) Match Of The Year – Edward Cornell vs Adam Matravers (21CW) Show Of The Year – TCW Psycho Circus Young Wrestler Of The Year – Robby Griffin (CWA) Veteran Wrestler Of The Year – Jack DeColt (CWA) Female Wrestler Of The Year – Lauren Easter (CWA) Most Improved Company – Supreme Wrestling Federation Independent Wrestler Of The Year – Funakoshi (BCG) Manager Of The Year – Drake Young (CWA) Announcer Of The Year – Duane Fry (SWF) Colour Commentator Of The Year – Emma Chase (SWF, currently unemployed) Referee Of The Year – Doppo Ibu (SAISHO/PGHW/BHOTWG) OOC - CWA really cleaning up on these awards! the only mention for BHOTWG is one of the refs

Burning Hammer Of The Wrestling Gods End of Year Announcement Shortly after the conclusion of Night Of The Burning hammer Tadiyuki Kikkawa addressed the gathered press to discuss numerous issues relating to how the year of 2021 would look for BHOTWG First up was the restructuring of the event calendar which in turn encompassed all of what was to be announced today with numerous new events and some existing ones changed around January New Years Flame - New event to the calendar which would open the year Fighting Start Tour BHOTWG Fighting Start February Warrior Globe Tour - Warrior Globe & its preceding tour would now be an international event, in 2021 it would take place in both Canada and USA BHOTWG Warrior Globe March Syndicate Tour BHOTWG Syndicate Of Fire - New event April Prophecy Tour BHOTWG Test Of Prophecies May Fire Dream Cup BHOTWG Fire Dream Of The Immortals - Event moved from its traditional spot in March, the event will also host the final of The Fire Dream Cup, a new knockout heavyweight tournament to take place across the month of may BHOTWG Anniversary Show June Hammer Tour BHOTWG The Warriors Hammer - New event July BOSJ Tour Best Of The Super Juniors August Summit Tour BHOTWG Summit Challenge September Quest Tour BHOTWG Quest Of Heart October Harvest Tour BHOTWG Burning Harvest - New event November Frozen Tour BHOTWG Shimotsuki December Legends Tour BHOTWG Night Of The Burning Hammer Kikkawa introduced a number of new events and some talking points to go with it. First off the introduction of New Years Flame, the event was intended to be a clean break for the start of the new year, basing new feuds and challengers and it was thought that the event would each year host a surprise of one description or another. The start of the year was to experience the most upheaval and change overall as February would see the BHOTWG roster move abroad for the best part of a month, Kikkawa spoke with excitement about the opportunity to extend the burning path to overseas markets. 2021s Warrior Globe tour would start in Canada and conclude in America. Later in the year would see the introduction of the Fire Dream Cup, a new elimination format competition for heavyweights, Kikkawa had the following to say "Right from the moment I took control I wanted to create a tournament to compliment the BOSJ for the heavyweights, though rather than a league format this will be a knockout tournament which will hopefully give us some exciting match ups" there was some speculation as to whether the tournaments winner would go onto challenge the world champion, something which Kikkawa would neither confirm or deny.

December The final month of the year and the build up to the end of year spectacle that is Night Of The Burning Hammer, the first time the event has been in December, one of Kikkawas first changes when he took over the company. Outside of BHOTWG in Japan a situation had been brewing in PGHW (Pride Glory Honour Wrestling) who had been leaking money for the whole year, in an attempt to arrest this they reduced their production values and live event experience, whether this would work or not time would tell as entering into December the promotion was in negative funds. PGHW were not the only Japanese promotion struggling financially, SAISHO between April and September had just about made a profit each month, though since then they had been losing money and were, at the time of writing, just about above 0. Talk began in the dirt sheets towards the end of November about the status of Matthew Keiths contract, whilst initially BHOTWG didn’t foresee any complications as we moved into December it transpired that Mexican promotion EILL (Empresa Internacional de Lucha Libre) had put a sizeable offer for Keith on the table, midway through the tour it was announced that Keith had signed a lucrative 3 year exclusive deal which would make him the second highest paid on the roster, as details emerged after the fact Kikkawa would reveal that he wasn’t certain that Keith would sign as EILL had made a very strong offer. In other contract news Ninja Shunji signed a years extension on a written deal. The legends tour itself bought the usual preview tag matches, other details about Night Of The Burning Hammer dripped down through the month, a special “IWGP match” was announced which would be a 3v3 match with wrestlers from TCW featuring side by side with BHOTWG talents. Kikkawa announced a press conference for after the event where he would be making a special announcement regarding 2021. The current longest reigning champions, Junior Ace Team, would face what looked to be their biggest challenge yet as they would be defending their championships in a 3 way tag match. Right at the end of the tour injury struck again, the time Helikaon landed on the shelf with a torn rotator cuff, surgery did prove completely successful and greatly reduced his time away, though he would still spend 3 months away, this also meant the pack had to be shuffled for the final NEO battle. Kobe Football Stadium – 30,000 SELL OUT (Pre Show) Aio Bandai vs Shiki Saito vs Teruki Nakayama (Pre Show) Gonkuro Kamioka wins Burning Rumble BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 51st Champion Toju Munkata vs Panda Mask II NEO-X (Sugiyama, Sato & Miyamoto) vs Senmatsu-gun (Khan, Shimakage & Yamura) IWGP 3V3 Match Joshua Taylor, Munemitsu Senmatsu & Bash Street vs Akio, Flying Jimmy Foxx & Hiroaki Nakasawa BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships 31st Champions Junior Ace Team vs Hit And Run vs Yanagimoto & Okakura NEO Final War – Loser Disbands NEO-Prime (Keith, Ino, Masuno & Toshitara) vs NEO-X (Sakai, MYSTIC Dragon, HDR & Takemura) BHOTWG World Tag Team Championships 28th Champions The Ring Generals vs The Golden Army BHOTWG World Championship 36th Champion Mabuchi Furusawa vs Greg Gauge A record crowd for the Kikkawa era saw the year come to a close with many talking points. In the main event Mabuchi Furusawa continued his reign in what was widely regarded as his best defence yet against TCWs Greg Gauge, many imagined he would be left to celebrate after the match however the appearance of Kinnojo Horri lit up the crowd, Horri had spent most of the year injured and it was still thought he was some way off returning, he told Furusawa that his days with the championship were numbered, he mocked Furusawa for having “exhibition matches” against TCW talent rather than proper defences, Horri didn’t put a date on his challenge but it was clear that in 2021 Horri would step into the ring to face Furusawa. In somewhat of a surprise The Ring Generals (Dean Waldorf & Marv Statler) successfully defended against Gakusha and Takayuki 2000 of The Golden Army, this really solidifying them as a big deal. Much talk before the event revolved around the NEO final war, NEO-X had suffered the loss of Helikaon to injury and on paper it seemed they were at a disadvantage, it was however NEO-X that won after 22 minutes when Heihachiro Sakai pinned Koshiro Ino, NEO-X now rebranding as NEO reverting to the classic black and white colours, the obvious question after this was what would become of NEO Primes members, where would they end up? BHOTWG after this only had three active stables which seemed low. Junior Ace Team continued their grip on the junior tag team division despite finding themselves in a three way defence. The IWGP 3v3 match saw Joshua Taylor return to Japan after his appearance earlier in the year and also saw Bash Street and Flying Jimmy Foxx come over, Bash Street impressed and it was expected that he may return again. In the opener Toju Munkata made his first defence against Panda Mask II who had settled nicely into life with BHOTWG after his move from WLW with many others in November, it was a great match however the talking point came after the match when Senmatsu-gun members filled the ring apparently to celebrate with their stable mate only to viciously attack him and leave him down and not looking like a champion at all, this got huge heat in the arena as the crowd had really warmed to Senmatsu-gun in recent times. Senmatsu-gun also had a victorious member in the Burning Rumble in the pre show, Gonkuro Kamioka winning, SUKI had the most eliminations during the match. December Game World Round Up - CWA (Canadian Wrestling Alliance) rise to big - GSW (Grimm SoCal Wrestling) rise to small - PGHW stabilise financially due to reduction in production values

November November was to start with the culmination of a chain of events that would shock the Japanese professional wrestling scene, after WLW (World Level Wrestling) had decided to take some digs at BHOTWG, Tadiyuki Kikkawa acted quickly and opened up the BHOTWG bank account and went on a sensational raid of WLW, including referees, road agents, their main announcer, the core of their roster with the exception of people with strong loyalty to WLW who would not be budged by money. The total list of signings were as follows... - Eagle Kawasawa who was a major star in WLW - Americana a WLW star & tag team champion - Panda Mask II a WLW star - Shogun Watoga a WLW star & one of the promotions brightest young talents - Akio who was well known & another one of the promotions brightest young talents - Necromancer who was well known - Frankie Dee who was wrestling under the name White Angel who was well known Ontop of these names BHOTWG also signed lead WLW announcer Isei Deushi, both of their referees and a road agent. Leaving WLW with not much more than their young lions and a handful of workers too loyal to them to leave (Masa Kurata the main name) Kikkawa had so far operated with a fairly modestly sized roster where pretty much everyone got ring time across tour shows at the very least, there were questions about how that would work going forward now with the addition of 7 in ring talents. The junior heavyweight question was answered when it was revealed that Toju Mukata would get a second chance at doing what he couldn’t do back in August and that’s to take the title off of MYSTIC. Towards the end of the tour Crimson Ghosts frankly horrific luck intensified, he picked up a torn rotator cuff just as he was being pushed up the card somewhat, he had been paired with White Angel in a tag team called Holy Ghost, ontop of this surgery proved unsuccessful and added to his projected time away, he would be out for over a year. Higashiosaka Stadium - 19,849 (Pre Show) Aio Bandai, Shiki Saito & Ko Minamino vs Akio, Americana & Teruki Nakayama Eagle Kawasawa, Pretty Okakura & Tsuneyo Yanagimoto vs Shogun Watoga, White Angel & Necromancer NEO-X (Sakai, Helikaon, HDR & Miyamoto) vs Senmatsu-gun (Senmatsu, Khan, Yamura & Shimakage) Koshiro Ino vs SUKI Tag #1 Contender Match The Golden Army (Takayuki 2000 & Hiroyasu Gakusha) vs NEO-X (Takemura & Sato) vs Hiroaki Nakasawa & Takeori Doi BHOTWG Junior Heavyweight Championship 50th Champion MYSTIC Dragon vs Toju Munkata BHOTWG World Championship 35th Champion Mabuchi Furusawa vs Aaron Andrews Furusawa successfully defended against TCW’s Aaron Andrews, after the match Matthew Keith appeared on the rampway which caught most by surprise, he was already to feature at Night Of The Burning Hammer, he would go on to tell the crowd and Furusawa that the champion would once again be showing why that title was called the WORLD championship... as he would next defend it against none other than his twin brother Greg Gauge. MYSTIC Dragon lost his grip on the junior title, maybe with one eye on the upcoming final NEO battle, Toju Munkata fulfilling his dream of reaching the top of the mountain after winning the Best Of The Super Juniors earlier in the year. The Golden Army would face The Ring Generals at Night Of The Burning Hammer, an interesting point to come out of the tag team #1 contenders match was that immediately after the event it was announced Takenori Doi would be going out on excursion with NYCW (New York City Wrestling) with whom BHOTWG had just partnered with. On the undercard new talents to the BHOTWG roster featured heavily, most coming in from WLW had settled well. November Game World Round Up - Lucha Ryujin (Mexico) rise to small - EILL adopted a hostile attitude towards OLLIE - Rokuemon Matsushita & Suguru Emoto quit BCG - Steve Frehley leaves USPW and joins SWF - BCG rise to medium - Randy Bumfhole leaves SWF and joins USPW - EILL to send developmental workers to FCW