AboardTheArk

CGC World Title: Barry Bowen vs Steve DeColt Gang Warfare: Dan DaLay, John McClean, Frankie Flame & Rash Reilly vs Alex DeColt, Jack DeColt, Eddie Chandler & Johnny Maverick Tomahawk on a Pole: Rocky Psycho vs Howling Dog Nelson Blais vs Condor Land Mass & Mammoth vs The Flock

Jackson still in RCW! That's a surprise

If we can't have Itabashi Fudoppy and Itabashi Insatsu Man then why should we live?

Kintaro Kinjo vs. Erik Van Rjin Pure Muscle vs. Strength Through Honour Kozue vs. Jin Fujiwara HardRockCity vs. Kinjo-Jidai Juro Deguchi vs. Oda Yamawaki Ishii vs. Kato Naruto vs. LeFever Cassidy vs. Buey III KAMIKAZE vs. Furosuto vs. Talisman vs. Sugarskull

Great stuff!

NIGHT OF PRIDE, 2001 Card Elite Series SEMI FINAL 1: Nobuatsu Tatsuko vs. Eisaku Hoshino Elite Series SEMI FINAL 2: Pistol Pete Hall vs. Eisaku Kunomasu Chuichi Sanda and Rebel Cell (Harumi Okazawaya & Sotatsu Sarumara) vs. Kojiro Harada and Team MILLENIUM (Fukusaburu Inao & Takeshi Umehara) Akinori Kwakami & Danger Kumasaka vs. Dread & Raymond Diaz Hito Ichihara, Mito Miwa and Yasunobu Koiso vs. Iwane Okano, Koryusai Kitoaji and Noriyori Sanda Sean McFly © vs. Steve Flash for the Historical Japan title Team Dynasty 2000 (Shuji Inukai & Yoshimi Mushashibo) © vs. Tommy Cornell & Walter Morgan for the Glory Tag Crown titles Elite Series FINAL: Winner of semi final 1 vs. Winner of semi final 2

Nooooo not the Heisei Terrorist

Nagai vs Lizuka... hold on this man is cooking

That NJPW 01 roster is super good, though how it ages will be questionable. You might have to spam Nagata vs Anyone at some point unless you get good luck with signings or Shibata/Nakamura/Tanahashi become super workers early on. Inokiism rules but we all know its flaws at this point. Gedoism on that roster will be a whole different challenge though.

OLLIE RELÁMPAGO - JAN. WK1 Nicolas Lopez vs. Silver Tiger Marcos Flores vs. Phobia ??? vs. Queen Amazon The Freedom Family (with Agueda Alonso) vs. The American Cobras (with Emilia Reyes) North Star Jr vs. Extraordinario Jr (with Space Invaders) Dos Phoenix Nuevo (Phoenix II & Phoenix IV) & Fuego Fantastico vs. El Critico & Dragón Americano & Super Diestro Laberinto Jr & Blue Phantom & Astro vs. Amo Del Gato & Coulrophobia (Hellech & Pierrot) Optional: Rosa Perez It's definitely tough to balance real life mexican wrestling with the CVerse, excited to see how it works. Lightning matches are a great addition.

best of luck, OLLIE rules.

The Golden Four are going to save the company?

Card for UPJ Showdown in Hiroshima 2021 MAIN EVENT: UPJ International Heavyweight Title Match: Erik Van Rjin vs Kintaro Kinjo (2nd Defense) UPJ International Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jin Fujiwara vs Kozue (2nd Defense) UPJ International Tag Team Championships Match: Katsuhiko Ishii & Mr. Yamashita vs Pure MUSCLE (5th Defense) Furosuto vs Ryotaro Naruto PunkRockCity vs Oda Yamawaki & Kamei Takauji HardRockCity Juniors vs Dustin LeFever, Nakada & Yamada and Sugarskull Alvaro Buey III, Lobo, Jayden Cole and Otojiro Ikina vs ???, Des Miller, Koji Yamada & Ukon Kajahara

UPJ SHOWDOWN IN OKAYAMA 2021 Friday, week 3 of February 2021 Held in Okayama Perfectural Arena Confirmed Attendance: 30000 PPV Buys: 171,816 UPJ+ Subs: 959,990 Match 1: Oda Yamawaki vs Kamei Takauji VS Yamawaki was in “good” spirits despite his loss. He came out in the black trunks but decided to steal the show regardless, adopting the mannerisms of the legendary Ichiro Mishima who is one of the last UPJ legends to wear all black for his career. He wrestled a different match than usual against Takauji, keeping things simple and letting his experience and athleticism make the difference, before the Sumida Bridge ended proceedings. Match Rating: 62 Match 2: Hidetsugu Genji & Joao Iwahara vs Utamara & Sugarskull VS This debut was purely a showcase for Sugarskull, the man with the incredible mask and the solid execution of classic high flying moves. Genji and Iwahara base and get heat as instructed with Iwahara showing some really cool technical transitions. Utamara was a “face” in peril, teaming with the Spaniard purely because both have spooky masks, but this is some of the closest he’s gotten to getting a “spotlight” on him in non-tournament season so he really worked hard to sell and milk the hot tag. A few tijeras later, some awesome dodges into the HardRockCity team crashing into each other, a big missile dropkick and a Dia De Los Muertos (Phoenix Senton Splash) later, and Sugarskull had picked up his first UPJ W! Match Rating: 55 Match 3: 10 Man Unaffiliated Battle Royal Koji Yamada wins and is the first entrant in the Ozeki Summit. A bit boring and by the numbers, no returns or debuts also hurt it. Match Rating: 57 Match 4: Furosuto vs Dustin LeFever VS One show without Dustin LeFever was one too many, as he gets a marquee singles against the potential ace of the division. And he shows out showing why he’s the greatest brand representative in UPJ history, being a very hard puzzle to solve for a Furosuto who has a lot on his mind. There’s no pretenses here, LeFever isn’t willing to match Furosuto for pace, instead using his incredible understanding of the rules to frustrate and gain small advantages. Rope breaks and rolling out of the ring and spatial awareness are the kind of things you need to succeed in the cutthroat world of business. But so is resiliency, and apparently Dustin is still working on that because as soon as Furosuto adjusted it got real ugly, real fast for our hero. The dropkicks rocked him, the suplexes wrecked him, and a normal First Sign of Frost gave Furosuto the win. Match Rating: 69 Match 5: Bruiser Cassidy & Erik Van Rjin vs Kintaro Kinjo & Mr. Yamashita VS The semi-main was purely to build up anticipation for the Van Rjin vs Kinjo title fight on the next night, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t do great work in there. Cassidy and Kinjo went on from where they left off, with the struggle of the champion being echoed whenever Mr. Yamashita went in- despite his newfound usefulness, there’s limits to how much he can achieve in the ring unless two dynamic behemoths. Van Rjin was a man possessed in particular. His reckless abandon with which he threw himself and his opponents around would make you swear he’ll hurt himself before getting to Hiroshima. Kinjo made a business decision towards the end stretch to sacrifice Yamashita at the altar, and the two Ignite Muscle Army took turns wrecking him (and almost lost to a schoolboy pin for their hubris) before a Running Elbow by Van Rjin sealed the deal. After that, Erik waved at the champ and shouted “See you at Hiroshima” with a smile on his face. Match Rating: 82 Match 6: International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: SHOGUN & Ryotaro Naruto vs Cody & Matsuo After the Captain UPJ weight debacle, faction leader Ryotaro Naruto stepped up next to SHOGUN. The issue? These two haven’t been teaming up together in tag team scenarios and therefore weren’t nearly as on the same page as the champions. Nevertheless, their individual brilliance was more than enough to keep them in the match and give them advantages, but they weren’t up to the task in maximizing those advantages through teamwork. Every time they went for a double team move it backfired, and Junichi Matsuo and Cameron Cody were ready to pounce, frustrate them and outwrestle them in those occasions. Matsuo especially was hungry to mix it up with Ryotaro Naruto, clearly viewing him as a measuring stick. And let’s admit: he didn’t just get his ass kicked! His ability to land on his feet out of most move set ups and capitalize quickly got him out of hot water a couple times, and he hit a huge Junichi Plex (Package German Suplex) that almost ended the match if not for a miraculous kickout. By that point SHOGUN was desperately to tag in and got a huge hot tag where he just started spamming vintage offense with dropkicks, a huge crucifix driver and his finishing Thrust Kick- not enough! Cody & Matsuo decide “screw the rules” and double team him without a tag or regard for a (always lenient anyway) 5 count. Naruto initially saves SHOGUN which gets them the momentum they needed to finally get on the same page. Stereo dropkicks! Back Body Drops! Taunts to the crowd! Double Frankensteiner! Those weren’t enough to get the win either so Naruto calls for the thrust kick into the Naruto Driver, but Cody pulls Matsuo out of the way and SHOGUN kicks Naruto! Junichi Plex-Flying Lariat combo on a stunned SHOGUN and the champs retain in a great match. Match Rating: 74 Main Event: Kato vs Katsuhiko Ishii VS United Promotions Japan is a Big Match company. That means they produce some of the biggest and most important wrestling matches of the year, every year. But it also means they have world class wrestlers who are ready to produce a big match out of any circumstances. This is what happened when the leader of the Ignite Muscle Army faced the second of Kinjo-Jidai in a seemingly filler main event match. These two instantly looked at each other and knew it was a big night. They skipped the (sometimes annoyingly customary in UPJ main events) grappling and went instantly into plummeting and walloping and thrashing and exerting all possible force to knock each other out. What begun as a classic strike exchange soon started vaguely reminiscing a shoot-style match with blocking and avoidance of every hit as they really started selling the damage and danger early on. But the hatred prevailed as a sick dropkick from Ishii to Kato sent the warrior to the outside and begun an elongated ringside brawl. Katsuhiko seems very passionate about inducing horrible head trauma upon Kato, but his opponent’s resiliency is incredible to the point where he no sells a steel post bump, instead getting so pissed off that Ishii backs off in terror for a second before getting his senses back and trying to lariat Kato. He dodges, sending Ishii’s forearm right into the post, and getting the opening he needed to ground his match. The armwork was particularly brutal and focused on the elbow joint especially, kicking and stomping accompanying more standard wrestling heat. Ishii did his best to sell without sympathy but rather contempt but his helplessness got the crowd fired up and he managed to get to the point where he mounted a comeback with fury and huge offense using his off-arm, his head and ring smarts. He even hit the spider suplex-Ishii Knee Drop combo that almost was enough to end the contest, but once Kato managed to get enough separation to get in control and latch on the arm again, he managed to wrist clutch into the Zero Point Slam twice and end the contest in the runaway UPJ Match of the Year so far! Match Rating: 91 Show Rating: 87

Thanks for a kickass diary. Excited to see what you return with whenever you're comfortable.

CGC World Title: Eric Tyler vs Steve DeColt (Guest Referee Jack DeColt) I believe Steve keeps the title but not in a satisfying way, as this builds to Steve supporting Jack and Alex in overcoming the influence of Tyler and fear of DaLay while he has probably lost the belt. Think this goes through Ultimate Showdown. Chain on a Pole Match: Jon Jetson vs Ed Monton This is the big crowdpleasing moment of the show. Grudge Match: Barry Bowen vs Howling Dog Next CGC Champion? Depends on if he gets poached. Barnyard Bash: John McClean vs Black Sheep I think you'll be too tempted with how the other results go. Frenchie's Choice: Rocky Psycho vs Steve Flash Flash just isn't a Self CGC guy imo. 900lbs-a-side Tag Match: Land Mass & Mammoth vs Jake Sloan & Friends FUN! Pie Eating Contest: Biff the Bruiser vs Moose Mulder Just think you like Moose more.

Shimakage Kato Uno & Urugotaya Narahashi Genji Team Roster Members

Thank you all for the predictions and the feedback. Rest assured, your Dustin LeFever concerns will be alleviated, especially post-Summit. Next stop, Okayama! With 5 straight huge shows one of them had to be the "filler" one, and this is what we got: Card for Showdown in Okayama Main Event: Kato vs Katsuhiko Ishii International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: SHOGUN & Ryotaro Naruto vs Cody & Matsuo (2nd Defense) Bruiser Cassidy & Erik Van Rjin vs Kintaro Kinjo & Mr. Yamashita Furosuto vs Dustin LeFever 10 Man Battle Royal for the first entrant to the Ozeki Summit: Alvaro Buey III vs Des Miller vs Jayden Cole vs Koji Yamada vs Koma Kobiashi vs Lobo vs Nakano Yuki vs Otojiro Ikino vs Ryuko Mishamoto vs Ukon Kajahara Hidetsugu Genji & Joao Iwahara vs Utamara & CLLM's Sugarskull Oda Yamawaki vs Kamei Takauji

SHOWDOWN IN FUKUOKA 2021 Held Saturday, Week 2 of February 2021 Venue: Fukuoka FC Stadium Confirmed Attendance: 3000 (Sold Out) PPV Buys: 599322 UPJ+ Views Worldwide: 700312 Match 1: Hidetsugu Genji vs Kamei Takauji VS Genji, knowing he could use a bounce back singles win, puts an old-fashioned beating on the young rookie. That doesn’t mean Takauji doesn’t get his shine in, if anything this may be the most even matchup he’s had so far in terms of offense without another youngster on the roster. But Genji goes through every trick in the young lion beating book, and is absolutely parading an almost knocked-out on his feet kid for the finishing stretch, hitting a tough lariat, a backbreaker and not even giving him the dignity of losing to a finisher, but rather the Boston Crab. (6:46) Match Rating: 44 Match 2: Filipino Fire Power vs Strength Through Honour VS These two teams went out knowing their job is to warm up the crowd and they did exactly that. The wrestling was fundamentally sound, the vets challenged FFP to give them their hardest shots, and the fans were pushing and pushing for Campos and Apolinario to get that marquee victory against the Blue Rhino Cup finalists. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be and Katsumoto hit the Act of Honour on Campos for the win. (13:27) Match Rating: 51 Match 3: Daijiro Otsuka vs Des Miller VS This was a simple, breezy matchup. Two men who hit hard but in different ways than the rest of the roster, Otsuka’s kung-fu inspired offense against Miller’s boxing/MMA prowess. They came up with a few cool exchanges stemming from the stylistic clash, but it was mostly an oddly paced stiff match that is more curious and fun than great. Otsuka hit the Long Road Home for one of the biggest singles wins of his career so far. (10:53) Match Rating: 55 Match 4: Captain UPJ, SHOGUN and Koji Yamada & Koma Kiobashi vs Cody & Matsuo and PunkRockCity VS These folks had an extended house show brawl, exchanging hits and rapidly changing legal competitors despite not going 100% with big spots. Asahara and INK had a chip on their shoulders and went hard against the heavyweights after losing their tag title shot. Kobiashi and Yamada managed to grapple enough to keep up and not risk getting knocked into a loop of bombs, but the junior heavyweight action in the match was much more lopsided with Matsuo being a house on fire against both SHOGUN and Captain UPJ (who is more of a heavy anyway). However, the finish was Captain UPJ getting a huge upset by getting the tokyo bridge pin on Cameron Cody. He sprinted out of the ring in delight and the crowd let an audible gasp. However, quality wise this did suffer from going a bit long. (18:11) Match Rating: 58 Match 5: Furosuto and Kozue vs Jin Fujiwara and Ryoturo Naruto VS The top four of the junior division (though a certain HardRockCity pair might disagree) all in the ring at the same time, with a mission to deliver an absolute bombfest. Kickouts, rapid pace and lucha-inspired sequences were the name of the game throughout the 20 minutes, with Fujiwara bringing out some llave work against Kozue’s incredible dives. Furosuto and Kozue are not comfortable working together (not in terms of match quality chemistry but in terms of winning the match), though they overcame every shortcoming here by just stringing offense together. A kick was followed by a suplex, a throw by a flying move, a hip toss by a standing shooting star press. Naruto and Fujiwara looked out of it but got back into contention for the finish. Furosuto went for his victory roll, Jin was ready to hit the Glittering Fujiwara but a huge Missile Dropkick for Kozue turned the tables. Yet Fujiwara managed to kicked out and Naruto started mauling Kozue with forearms to the back of the head, taking him out and grappling him to let the two warriors settle their differences. Fujiwara was intense and ready, but also clearly rocked in the skull- a few counter sequences later, and Furosuto hit the rare First Sign of Frost (Avalanche Diamond Cutter) for the win. (19:37) Match Rating: 81 Match 6: Juro Deguchi vs Oda Yamawaki VS Sometimes two wrestlers hate each other so they can’t just have a match. This was the case here. The first half of this was an elongated crowd brawl full of blood and dangerous spots that were mostly hit on Yamawaki such as a falcon arrow from the barricade to the floor or a body slam down the steps in the crowd. However, Deguchi was the one who bladed after repeated shots into the steel steps (with Yamawaki having wrist control on the other side and pulling him). By the time they had exercise every last beat of patience and were threatened with a real count out despite the occasion, both men had lost a lot of the usual explosiveness, and this was a slugfest for control. Deguchi’s rationale was to work over and prepare for the Deguchi hold, keeping the pace at a manageable point, but Yamawaki kept throwing everything strikewise with hatred. The crowd’s expressions changed from concern to hatred at a brutal assault of the veteran, but Deguchi also kept coming back, cutting Oda off, kicking out. Yamawaki was showing visible neck strain after a brutal dropkick and Deguchi started spamming piledrivers. Yamawaki was loopy but still managed to fake out Deguchi’s attempt at a Hard Lariat by ducking and getting a Sumida Bridge for a 2.9! Deguchi though instantly got up and connected with the Hard Lariat that turned Yamawaki inside out and allowed him to transition for the Deguchi Hold (Rings of Saturn) for the tap out victory over the Rebel. (31:28) Match Rating: 78 Main Event: Ignite Muscle Army (Atonga, Erik Van Rjin, Kato, Taheji Ebisawa and Takehide Harada) vs Kinjo-jidai (Katsuhiko Ishii, Kintaro Kinjo, Mr. Yamashita, Torture and Waotaka Eda) in 5 vs 5 Elimination Rules VS No matter the occasion, few things get UPJ crowds as hot as a big elimination tag. Stable warfare is ingrained within the company’s culture and while this one doesn’t look like ending the war between IMA and Kinjo-Jidai, the atmosphere was one of a huge match. Wrestlers don’t get in to break falls as they get DQ’d. This is strategy, this is combat. Mr. Yamashita finds himself isolated against Erik Van Rjin a little too long? Eliminated. Takehide Harada focusing too much on shittalking Kintaro Kinjo who used to be his junior? Clobbered by Waotaka Eda to death. The match stagnated for a bit until Katsuhiko Ishii managed to get a quick 1-2-3 on a victory roll on Ebisawa. That’s when Kato and Van Rjin went berserk on Kinjo-Jidai, with the God Emperor and his chosen one hiding behind their monsters. Even the monsters can’t hold back an army of righteous fury however: Kato eliminated Torture and Van Rjin destroyed Eda who barely got a hot tag on Kinjo. Kinjo wasn’t thrilled to be fighting Van Rjin but they had an explosive exchange that captivated the crowd until Atonga went in with Ishii in a preview of the tag titles match in Hiroshina. Atonga is a dominant force but Ishii has hit a new level in 2021. He may not be able to lift Atonga up for the Fire Thunder Driver but his intensity and tenacity meant the stars of Ignite Muscle Army could only watch as he hit repeated Ishii Knee Drops on Atonga for the elimination… Only for Kato to punt kick him instantly and eliminate him, knocking him out cold! A fired up Kato was a sight to behold for Kintaro Kinjo who instantly ordered Waotaka Eda to defend the honor of Kinjo-Jidai. Kato unleashed a flurry of strikes, but a headbutt exchange left him dizzy and Van Rjin had to finish the job: His running elbows are godly, and Eda just waiting to be felled. The monster kicked out of far too many for a mortal but was still downed. This left us with a finish that was surprisingly straightforward in a 2 on 1 assault on the God Emperor. The fans were going wild on every hit, every tag out, every double team move performed. Kinjo fought back but it wasn’t enough. He could only get a nearfall on Kato once with a small package and once with a Blue Flash. As soon as Van Rjin got in again, a flurry of Running Elbows led to the Van Rjin Hold (modified STF) for the triumphant win. (29:18) Match Rating: 78 Show Rating: 76 (Some) Post Show Comments: Shogun: "We fought hard and we earnt a shot at the UPJ Tag Team Titles! Captain, I am glad to follow.:" Captain UPJ: "Err, about that... I cannot make weight for the junior title shot. I have let myself go! Our sponsors are way too tasty." Shogun: "...So where does that leave me?!" Juro Deguchi: "The 'Rebel' challenged me himself, he provoked me, and he paid the price. You can't be a rebel without a cause and think you can stand up to true Rock. I was never going to lose my hair, but now you start back where everyone who needs to learn their lesson does: at the bottom." Jin Fujiwara: "An unfortunate setback, but no matter. I just need to study harder and innovate my way through Kozue. Furosuto already showed me the path today. I hope he makes a wise decision and joins Hall of the United Throne." Kenta Sonoda: "As part as the renewed alliance between the world's oldest promotions to celebrate the 70th anniversary of UPJ, a CLLM wrestler is joining us on the next show and for the foreseeable future will be part of the shows." The whole Ignite Muscle Army is together, but only the leaders are speaking. Erik Van Rjin: "KINJO! You have something that belongs to Ignite Muscle Army. And I'm going to be bringing it back at Hiroshima! Today was only the beginning you fucking prima donna!" Kato: "And I guess there's only one thing for me. Ishii you lapdog. Okayama is free. If you can show up and fight, maybe I will let you show up healthy for your tag title shot against my friends."

Tournament szn let's go

Card for UPJ Showdown in Fukuoka 2021 Main Event: Ignite Muscle Army (Atonga, Erik Van Rjin, Kato, Taheji Ebisawa and Takehide Harada) vs Kinjo-jidai (Katsuhiko Ishii, Kintaro Kinjo, Mr. Yamashita, Tortura and Waotaka Eda) in 5 vs 5 Elimination Rules Grudge Match: Hair vs Young Lion Gear Juro Deguchi vs Oda Yamawaki Furosuto and Kozue vs Jin Fujiwara and Ryoturo Naruto Captain UPJ, SHOGUN and Koji Yamada & Koma Kiobashi vs Cody & Matsuo and PunkRockCity Daijiro Otsuka vs Des Miller Filipino Fire Power vs Strength Through Honour Hidetsugu Genji vs Kamei Takauji

SHOWDOWN IN GIFU 2021 Held Saturday, Week 1 of February 2021 Venue: Gifu Dome Confirmed Attendance: 30000 (Super No Vacancy Sell Out) PPV Buys: 625343 UPJ+ Views Worldwide: 776,452 Match 1: Juro Deguchi vs Kamei Takauji VS It’s an evil thing to start of a major show like this. Deguchi was absolutely ready to slaughter this child to send a message. The only reason this went long was Takauji using some Yamawaki-taught techniques such as rolling out of the ring and desperately clutching the ropes in terror before dodging the incoming attack, which helped him get some breaks and string some offense in in the form of weak forearms and mediocre-form dropkicks. As the crowd actually begin to get behind Kamei, Deguchi cuts him off with a big chop, then hits him with a backdrop backbreaker and puts him in the Boston Crab. Takauji has to tap out to the young lion killer. (7:58) Match Rating: 60 Match 2: Jin Fujiwara, Ryotaro Naruto and SHOGUN vs Furosuto, Kozue and Utamara VS Junior Heavyweight Chaos never looked so controlled. This was a very good match that didn’t quite reach the next gear due to SHOGUN and Utamara performances, the two guys doing a bit too much of the lifting as they were being worked over by the stars of each team. In terms of the story itself, Furosuto clearly wasn’t comfortable working alongside his nemesis in Kozue, and was more emotional than usual when paired with Fujiwara who “stole” his title shot. However, emotion doesn’t always cloud clarity of judgement, as Furosuto looked near unbeatable at times. However, the stable unit just worked and flowed better. Jin Fujiwara is on a roll, and is looking real threatening against the Junior Heavyweight Champion. He made Utamara tap to an armbar while Kozue could only watch (16:12). Match Rating: 75 Match 3: Erik Van Rjin, Kato and Takehide Harada vs Dustin LeFever, Katsuhiko Ishii & Mr. Yamashita VS With Pure MUSCLE defending their title belts on the show, Ishii and Yamashita had to occupy themselves with the rest of Ignite Muscle Army. Arguably, this was a complete mismatch considering Dustin LeFever is a junior and an influencer first and foremost, but the Kinjo-Jidai members didn’t go down without a fight. Ishii shared a lot of tense moments with both Van Rjin and Kato, Yamashita is absolutely on a roll of holding his own against opponents that have been stronger than him in the past, though Van Rjin especially targetted him and did his best to victimise him throughout. Ishii got a pretty huge nearfall on Harada with the Ishii Knee Drop, but as he was teasing the Thunder Death Driver all chaos broke loose with the six men brawling against each other, and it led to a sequence with Harada and Dustin LeFever in the ring. LeFever’s agility and cunning served him well against the legend, with the crowd appalled to see him almost get the three with an inside cradle after an eye rake, but Harada’s steadfast resolve was enough to just chop and chop and chop until Dustin’s defenses went down. He applied the Cloverleaf, Kato and Van Rjin held the rest of Kinjo-Jidai, and LeFever tapped. (16:43) Match Rating: 73 Match 4: Oda Yamawaki vs Hidetsugu Genji VS Genji has made a habit in the latter stages of his career of going after the heavyweights, even competing in the Ozeki Summit once, but against a pissed off Oda Yamawaki he didn’t really stand a chance. Yamawaki kicked and punched and elbow with no much regard for the fundamentals, and Genji could only withstand and find openings. Dropkicks, suplexes, headbutts from the veteran led to an earned double finishing stretch, but Oda just never looked like it was likely he’d lose. This was confirmed as he didn’t even need Total Fear to win, and the Sumida Bridge (Bridging Dragon Suplex) was enough (11:22). Match Rating: 75 Match 5: UPJ Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships Match: Nakada & Yamada vs Cody & Matsuo A rematch from Hall of the Immortals, this was fun and snappy and about as good as you’d expect, but it wasn’t particularly new, and perhaps a reminder of a thin junior tag team division. Nevertheless, Cameron Cody and Junichi Matsuo are a revelation for the company and work amazingly together. They tend to alternate the face in peril from match to match, truly presenting themselves as equals who also equally care about winning and protecting each other. Nakada & Yamada did competent work as the heels, showing desperation in trying to win their titles back knowing failure means going to the back of the, admittedly kind of short, line. The Junichi-plex on Nakada ended proceedings and officially kickstarted the new era in the division. (16:55) Match Rating: 76 Match 6: UPJ International Tag Team Championships Match: PunkRockCity vs Pure MUSCLE These two teams know each other and have faced each others multiple times in the past couple of years. And the four wrestlers had fun with that, mixing the pairings and having the non-tagged in wrestlers intervene in signature sequences. There was this “chippy” environment, especially between Asahara and Ebisawa. Pure MUSCLE really went in with a champion aura, baiting the innate gutsiness of the challengers and stacking double team offense against them, like Ebisawa’s Belly2Helly into a Muscle Press from Atonga, but Asahara kept kicking out and TOKI INK pulled out the big guns and started headbutting Atonga with no regard to his cranial safety or concussion protocols. With both men slipping outside, TOKI shoved Atonga face first into the steel post then headbutted him to the back of the head, which caused Atonga to bleed the hard way but also completely discombobulated the challenger. Asahara and Ebisawa had a fighting spriit strike exchange in the middle of the ring with no apparent winner, until Asahara pulled out a spinning elbow strike that dropped Ebisawa on his back. Fired up, he went for Imminent Danger, but Ebisawa reversed into the Okinawa Crab. TOKI INK came in at the right moment and hit another headbutt to break the hold, but that just gives Ebisawa the control and power to hit him repeatedly on his “already through a lot” head. a few slaps and a lariat after, and Atonga and Ebisawa are able to hit double team moves on Asahara until a double powerbomb does the trick. (23:06) Match Rating: 73 Main Event: UPJ International Heavyweight Championship Match: Bruiser Cassidy vs Kintaro Kinjo This was probably the first “MOTY” contender out of UPJ for 2021, with PWI, Diaspora and ELL already having a few to their name. Cassidy is an absolute machine with no regard for Kinjo. This is his first huge singles in his second UPJ run and he’s understandably extremely motivated. One could criticize Kinjo for wrestling this like how he would before his turn with giving so much offense to the big man and selling his ass off, but there’s still the character work that makes him shine as the best in the world- every tiny advantage he gets, every time Cassidy messes up even slightly, Kinjo gloats and feels invincible and tries a mistimed bomb with the confidence of the God Emperor. However, around 18 minutes in there’s a tonal shift with Kinjo beginning to outlast Cassidy. First he’s able to string more strikes together. Then he cuts him off with a huge dropkick. Then around 20 in he actually manages to get a huge suplex in. No one would think of Cassidy as vulnerable, especially since this isn’t a case of leg selling taking him off his strategy, but his weight absolutely takes a toll on him the longer a match goes on and the more offense his opponent can string together. One would say Cassidy goes for the Annihilation Bomb too early as the champ slips away to counter with the Sunset Flip Bomb. From this point on, it gets frantic. Kinjo is running around like a madman trying to down Cassidy as many times as possible, while Cassidy knows one hit will give him back control. The crowd is getting restless as it feels like the God Emperor’s inherent superiority is getting affirmed. The whole Kinjo-Jidai stable who are seconds are ringside are cheering loudly. And that’s when Cassidy hits the Misawa Press (Thesz Press Pin) and the arena goes silent in shock at first. 1…2…3! They count, but no bell rings. Cassidy’s enormous stature hid the fact Kinjo somehow managed to slide the shoulder up. He still hasn’t escaped fully, to the point ref Sugimura starts another count that is broken at one, but that was a nearfall that changed the complexion of the finish. Cassidy suddenly felt inevitable. Blows and slams and brute dominance. He lifts up Kinjo for the Annihilation Bomb a second time, and this time he hits it. Kinjo bounces so hard off the mat he doesn’t even sell unconsciousness, just enormous pain. As he’s landed near the ropes, the Bruiser makes a show of dragging him to the middle of the ring, and places his foot on the emperor’s chest to pin him. A very enraged LeFever gets up on the apron to protest the move but he receives a middle finger as the fall is counted. 1…2…Kickout at 2.9! No nonsense, Cassidy goes for the Annihilation Bomb again, only for a frankensteiner by Kinjo to get him a two count and the separation he needed to grab onto the ropes and essentially force a timeout. He gets about ten seconds before he’s forcefully deadlifted. Cassidy goes for a huge throwing german but Kinjo lands on his feet and comes back at him with a Blue Flash (Bicycle Knee Strike), and a second one to finally down the monster. An “Emperor of The Throne” (High Fly Flow) later, and he had managed to defend his title. (26:09) Match Rating: 89 Show Rating: 85 (Some) Post Show Comments: Kintaro Kinjo: "Another triumph that will be sung as my empire prospers. Cassidy fought hard, but barbarians cannot match their brute strength with their wit. Every unfortunate next challenger should keep that in mind." Katsuhiko Ishii: "And don't forget. At Hiroshima, we're adding to the legend of Kinjo-Jidai. Atonga, Ebisawa, you're done!" Mr. Yamashita: "Yeah, baby!" Oda Yamawaki: "Deguchi, you bastard. If you want to put me in young lion's clothes upon victory, so be it. But know that when I embarass you, I'm shaving you like one! Prepare to lose that "Rockstar" hair you old weirdo." Jin Fujiwara: "I'm hitting full gear right at the perfect time. I will go on steady and end Kozue's reign of narcissism before it can even rev up!" Danger Asahara: "A disappointing defeat. We know we have them. 2021 is not going as planned. But the Ozeki Summit isn't far. And there's more opportunities on the way. We're going to Rock on!" TOKI INK: "Atonga's big head was a great enemy, but he's a bit of a tryhard idiot. Whenever we face them, they either outlast us or get outwrestled. It's not pretty. I'm going to make some sick, beautiful shit happen this year. That's a promise to the fans and my teammates."

Well, considering the main and with Eric Tyler all over the show, no surprise that this was one of the best episodes yet. Really curious that the fans were essentially treated with an angle at the main event of survival of the fittest! I also really enjoy bumbling rookie Eddie Chandler who's in over his head. Maverick looks like he has his priorities straight.

Yasutake The Team in Charge Suzuki Miyagi OMURA Taguchi Yamagawa Team Giant Suzuki Jr

Thank you all for the predictions and for reading the show! I'm going to be posting these Showdown Series shows about once a week before settling into the pace for the next tour and the Ozeki Summit later. Speaking of the predictions, here's the results: @neslo024 8/9 @Vandal 7/9 @StanMiguel 6/9 @Chaddes 7/9 @Dalton 5/7 @229tman 6/9 Pretty good for a first show, and that's high participation so thank you all. UPJ SHOWDOWN IN GIFU 2021 CARD: Main Event: UPJ International Heavyweight Championship Match: Bruiser Cassidy vs Kintaro Kinjo (1st Defense) UPJ International Tag Team Championships Match: PunkRockCity vs Pure MUSCLE (4th Defense) UPJ Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships Match: Nakada & Yamada vs Cody & Matsuo (1st Defense) Erik Van Rjin, Kato and Takehide Harada vs Dustin LeFever, Katsuhiko Ishii & Mr. Yamashita Jin Fujiwara, Ryotaro Naruto and SHOGUN vs Furosuto, Kozue and Utamara Oda Yamawaki vs Hidetsugu Genji Juro Deguchi vs Kamei Takauji