ATTACK OF THE CASTLE! Day 1

The first day of ATTACK OF THE CASTLE! got kicked off in Fukuoka at the Sawara Municipal Gym. An intimate venue, no doubt, with a capacity of only 1,500 seats. But make no mistake, all of the seats were filled. Probably a quarter of the crowd wore the all-black Demon Brigade paraphernalia, despite the fact that all three men had the night off from in-ring action.

---

With an impending showdown on 10/2, Lynx teamed with Earth Warrior to take on Jack Tillman and Shigeru Toyama in all-junior tag team action. Toyama spent a long time in the ring, even going after Lynx and taking him down with a judo-style hip throw and locked on a brutal grounded headlock that Earth Warrior would breakup with a dropkick. Once Tillman got in the ring, he kept up the attack and eventually submitted Earth Warrior with a cross armbreaker for the win. Although there was virtually no action between Lynx and Tillman, much to the disappointment of the fans, they will face-off again in tag action on 9/27 just days before the Jr. Heavyweight title match.

---

Billy Danielson, who will contend for David Troy’s King of Lions Championship on the 10/13 GAIJIN NO SPECIAL, made his debut when he teamed alongside Umetaro Sakamoto versus David Gage and Balloon Yamazaki. Although new to Japan, Gage made an impressive showing in the ring with the #1 contender, at one point slamming him down with a high-angle uranage that had Danielson clutching his neck and Gage could be seen mouthing, “Is that it?”

But Danielson battled back later in the match, finding Gage with the G.O.A.T. hitting a superkick on Gage that sent his gum flying in the crowd and him going over the top rope. When his teammate, the heavyset Balloon Yamazaki, entering the ring the MAX Dojo student was outmatch and fell victim to a Diamond Cutter and then applied Great Tapsby, a Rings of Saturn variant that caused rather inflexible Yamazaki to give up within a few seconds.

---

Masanori Kawada and Hiro Minamoto would square off against Shinjiro Nakama and Falcon Hamada in a match that had that MOUNTAIN Bros fans in the audience on their feet from the get-go. At one point when Nakama and Kawada were fighting on the outside. After Kawada hit a suplex, one of the bros handed Nakama a SHIMADA! Juice “SUUPA ENERGY” drink. The Moutain chugged it, jumped up, and nailed Kawada in the chest with a knee strike! He’d roll a KO’d Kawada back into the ring and Falcon Hamada would apply a triangle hold to pick up the fall and win the match. After the match, Kawada would be rushed to the hospital feeling chest pains after taking the brutal knee strike.

---

The main event was an 8-man tag that pitted the MAX-J regular army against LION’S ROAD in the first match of what is sure to be an exciting series. Much of the action centered around the ACES WILD! tag team of Mike Musket and Jun Vegas showing off their teamwork against Alexander Irvine and Justin Seville, the two men who will contend for the World Tag titles on 9/16. Musket’s catch wrestling against Irvine’s boxing resulted in a veritable stalemate as the two opened up the match. Irvine wanted to keep the fight standing, but Musket stayed in a crouch and threw kicks at Irvine’s legs. The knowledgeable MAX-J fans cheered wildly, knowing that this was the same strategy Antonio Inoki used against Muhammed Ali in 1976!

Seville and Vegas, who will meet in singles competition on 9/27, brawled with one another until a Vegas’ clothesline on Seville sent both men tumbling through the ropes. METAL HERO and AJ Knight frenetically jumped into the ring and the energy level went up 10x as HERO went for a Yakuza kick that AJ ducked and responded with a super kick to the masked man that put him down for a 1-2-2.5! AJ would control the match with holds, but METAL HERO battled back, catching AJ’s leg and transitioning into a rolling kneebar to the “ooooohs” of the crowd! Irvine would come in and break up the hold after yelling to AJ, “That’ll never happen again!”

When AJ finally tagged in David Troy, the fans were on their feet. But it was not because of Troy’s entrance, but instead because Billy Danielson had stepped out onto the aisle! What took everyone by surprise even further was the fact that Danielson was cheering on David Troy as he locked up with METAL HERO! Troy would hit a German suplex on the wily Jr. heavyweight cyborg, who would roll out of the pin and tag in Daichi Kusumoto, who immediately ascended to the top rope and launched himself at Troy with a diving shoulder block!

At this point in the match it seemed that all hell would break loose. Musket and Vegas would hit a double lariat on Irvine – who simply absorbed it and hit both men with a double elbow smash as they rolled to the outside. AJ Knight would surprise Kusumoto with a tornado DDT, but when he got up he found himself face-to-face with David Troy, the King of Lions Champion! The two had a bit of a staredown that was interrupted when METAL HERO hit a springboard missile dropkick that would knock Knight into Troy and send both men tumbling through the ropes to the outside!

It was Daichi Kusumoto and Justin Seville in the ring together, but it was the latter who would ultimately fall when Kusumoto used a vertical-drop brainbuster to win the first match in the opening series! While the MAX team celebrated together, the LION’S ROAD folks were in a state of chaos with Irvine and Seville at the throats of David Troy and AJ Knight. When Billy Danielson came over to play the peacemaker, Irvine shoved him away and a street fight broke out!

While Seville and Troy tumbled into the crowd and Irvine had AJ Knight in a headlock – suddenly “VAJURA ON!” hit and the Demon Brigade trio of ZENKI, GRIM, and Tokyo Zombie hit the stage to an enormous pop from the crowd! The hundreds of black-clad Demon Brigade jumped for joy at the sight of Japan’s most popular faction. With the MAX Heavyweight title on his shoulder, ZENKI took the microphone and berated the LION’S ROAD stars for being unable to go one night without disgracing the MAX ring with their antics.

As the four LION’S ROAD stars – Danielson having already gotten the hell out of there – began to move up the ramp to confront the DEMON BRIGADE, Shinjiro Nakama would emerge from the back and even the numbers! When LION’S ROAD turned around, standing next to the ring were the MAX army fighters – Musket, Vegas, METAL HERO, and Kusumoto – ready and waiting for a fight as well!

With the fighters from LION’S ROAD caught in the middle, it seemed that nothing would break the stalemate. In a strange sight, ZENKI began sniffing at the air like he smelled something foul… and Jacob Hammerstein emerged to the roar of the fans! ZENKI pinched his nose as the American Monster hit the stage and took a microphone, saying that he may have lost in the finals of the J1 SUMMIT, but he would find a way to get back on track to the MAX Heavyweight title. As someone who wrestles extensively for both MAX and LION’S ROAD, he was determined to play the peacemaker and prevent the scene from settling into more violence. This did not prevent Alexander Irvine from yelling “WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON???” to which Hammerstein did not immediately respond. The scene closed out on that fateful image, as security personnel finally rushed out to break up the men and send them to the back.

---

After the show went off-air, we finally caught up with Billy Danielson, who said that he was surprised at the amount of drama at the night. When asked about coming out to the stage when Troy was tagged in, he said he just wanted to support the LION’S ROAD guys and David Troy, hoping to see him do well because it would mean their fight for the King of Lions Championship on 10/13 would be even more hyped spectacle.

With a lively start to the tour, 9/16 will be headlined by a DEMON BRIGADE vs. LION’S ROAD matchup where GRIM and Tokyo Zombie attempt their V2 defense of the World Tag Team Championship against Alexander Irvine and Justin Seville of the “W.A.L.L.” stable. You won’t wanna miss it!