ATTACK OF THE CASTLE! Day 2

Tonight’s show, the second at the 1,500 seat Sawara Municipal Gymnasium, unexpectedly saw Alexander Irvine and Justin Seville take the stage. It was Irvine on the mic who would address the fans, his words translated on the Battleground Network-provided BATTLE~VISION screen above the entrance ramp. He scolded his parent company Lion’s Road Pro-Wrestling for allowing the belts to remain in the hands of the Demon Brigade and promised them back to North America where they would be protected by his stable, the W.A.L.L.

Fans eagerly looked toward the entrance for the possibility that the Demon Brigade would emerge, but not a soul stirred behind the curtain… until the Demon Lord ZENKI emerged from the black sea of shirts in the Demon Brigade zealots fan section! The MAX Heavyweight Champion promised that an epic battle would ensue that would determine the pecking order between Japan and the gaijin and promised that the greatest nation in the world would come out on top. Irvine, after seeing the translation on the screen, smirked and remarked, “I agree.”

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After the men went their separate ways, we got the first match of the night started. King of Lions Champion David Troy went toe-to-toe with David Gage under the sport form rules. In the first round, Troy would use his kicks to his advantage, even landing a kick to the head that knocked Gage down to the mat. However, he scrambled back up and the match continued. They locked up in the clinch near the end of the round and Troy went for a knee that earned him a yellow card violation, as only leg strikes with the top of the foot are allowed. Gage took the action to the mat in the second round, nearly scoring a submission victory with a keylock but the time expired. The judges awarded a split decision victory to David Troy.

As David Troy walked back through the aisle, Billy Danielson came through the curtains and clapped his hands enthusiastically as he encouraged Troy, who did not welcome this reaction. Danielson went for a high-five, but Troy walked past him and asked him what he was doing. Danielson replied that his match was next and he was just walking out early to do some stretching. Troy remained suspicious but didn’t press the conversation.

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Indeed, it would be Danielson and Jack Tillman against Jacob Hammerstein and “Mountain” Shinjiro Nakama. Danielson and Nakama got started, and it was the “Mountain” Shinjiro who backed him up with a flurry of open-hand strikes and then tossed him over his head with a belly-to-belly suplex! Hammerstein wanted to get in on the action, but Nakama shook his head and continued an assault with grounded knees to Danielson’s rib area. Nakama got on Danielson’s back for a rear naked choke, but Danielson slipped out and tagged in Tillman.

Nakama laughed at the #1 Junior Heavyweight title contender, but Tillman stepped up and reached up to the Mountain and hit him with an elbow smash! Nakama winced for a moment but then hit a chop on Tillman that sent him down to the mat. But Tillman jumped up quickly and hit a leaping elbow smash that sent Nakama stumbling back and Tillman followed up with a bicycle kick that sent Nakama back into his corner where Hammerstein tagged in!

Hammer’s energy was undeniable in this match, showing off some boxing skills with some closed fist strikes that earned the ire of the referees. Tillman, however, took one of those strikes and locked on a flying cross armbreaker! But Hammerstein slipped out of its grasp and put a kneedrop into Tillman’s skull. After a Diamond Cutter, Hammer would lift up Tillman and drop him with the deadly Hammersteiner to pick up the fall over the junior heavyweight.

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We saw a very unusual team-up between ZENKI and METAL HERO versus the ACES WILD! team of Mike Musket and Jun Vegas. The fans went borderline insane when ZENKI and Musket locked horns. An aggressive Musket would push ZENKI into the corner with chops and elbows, but eventually ZENKI would find room for a flying headscissors reversal that made the Man of the Mountain quite dizzy.

METAL HERO would be tagged in and challenge Musket with kicks, but the mountain hillbilly would catch his foot and tag in Jun Vegas who springboarded into the ring and hit a flipping neckbreaker! He’d get a 1-2-2.9 count as HERO got the shoulder up! Vegas would brawl with mudhole stomps and knee drops, even hitting a swinging DDT but once again failing to get the win. HERO would escape a big boot, tag in ZENKI, who would fly into the ring with the ZANBATOOOOOH!!! He’d hook the leg for the 1… 2… 3-NO! Vegas would get the shoulder up.

As ZENKI manifested an offense of shotei strikes and roundhouse kicks, Vegas would tag in Musket and the two would work their offense while HERO became restless on the ropes. Eventually, ZENKI would doge a lariat from Musket and tag in HERO. HERO would hit a Yakuza kick that would send Musket back into the ropes and Vegas would tap him on the shoulder for the tag in. HERO would get a running start going after Musket, but missed a Violent Spirit Lariat and Musket dumped him on his head with a backdrop driver! As soon as HERO got up to his feet, he ran into a GUH punch that put down the cybernetic wonder! Vegas hooked the leg and scored the 1-2-3!

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In a MAX vs. LION’S ROAD series match, MAX Defense Force’s Masanori Kawada and Daichi Kusumoto faced off against Lion’s Road’s team up Rafa Whatley and AJ Knight. Kawada would come down to the ring wearing a protective vest and the two attentive Lion’s Road fighters frequently targeted him in the midsection. But the Everlasting Hero at one point would push AJ Knight back and hit the Spear of Justice!

Kusumoto would take a beating against Rafa Whatley later in the match. The former football player would at one point down Kusumoto for a Death Valley Driver but only get a 2.5 count! Kusumoto would hit a series of a dozen, count ‘em, a dozen headbutts that allowed him to tag in Kawada! Kawada would come in for a running elbow smash that knocked down Whatley, but AJ would enter the ring and hit a superkick to the back of his head, with Kawada stumbling into Whatley’s arms, being lifted up into a military press and downed with a snap spinebuster! The Black Flag! Whatley would pin Kawada for the 1-2-3 and even the MAX-LR series at 1-1.

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In the main event, Demon Brigade’s GRIM and Tokyo Zombie went up against LION’S ROAD’s Alexander Irvine and Justin Seville in a match that had the fans on their seat. GRIM and Irvine would get things kicked off, with the King of the Dead licking his lips with a green substance that portended his poison mist. Irvine attacked without fear, at one point smacking GRIM in the face that sent the mist flying into the crowd! Irvine would then shoot in on GRIM and take him down for some ground-n-pound action with his fists before jumping up and roaring at the Demon Brigade zealots!

Seville would get into the match, but GRIM would slip through his grasps and tag in the 2018 J1 SUMMIT winner, Tokyo Zombie. Zombie’s puroresu karate offense would see his fancy footwork and kicks push Seville into the corner, but the Cottonmouth would hit a drop toe hold that would smack Zombie’s face right into the middle turnbuckle!

Irvine would reenter and he’d use power-wrestling to throw Zombie over his head with multiple and repeated German suplexes, bridging a fifth and final suplex with a bridge for a 1… 2… NO! Zombie would find a way as he always seems to do. Irvine would throw a few roundhouse kicks into the gut of a prone Zombie on his hands-and-knees. Eventually, Zombie would make it to the ropes and tag in GRIM and the King of the Dead would load up again with the mist – but he MISSED, no pun intended – and ate a European uppercut and a then a flying knee strike from the Unnatural.

Tagging in Seville, the Cottonmouth would take the action to him and go for a backdrop hold but GRIM reversed it with strikes to the back of the head and then tossed him over with a Judo-style hip throw! Zombie would come in with a vengeance and lock up Seville by trapping his arms, laying headbutts into his skull and tossing him over with a double-underhook belly-to-belly suplex! He’d pin for a 1-2-2.5! Seville would get the shoulder up. Zombie would get him back and hit a Front Russian leg sweep~The Falling Tokyo Sun! He’d hooked the leg for the 1… 2…
3! But it was Alexander Irvine putting Seville’s foot on the rope! The ref wouldn’t see Irvine on the apron, but he’d see the foot and call off the ringside attendant – this match would continue!

Zombie did not betray any disappointment and went to work, setting up Seville on his knees and then hitting a Buzzsaw kick that put Seville back face-first into the mat! He’d allow Seville to get up to a knee and attempt the Rising Zombie Moon, but Seville would get a forearm up to block the shining axe kick! Seville would pick up Zombie, back up into a corner, and put him down with a running power slam!

Let’s take you to the finish…

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With GRIM and Zombie’s successful V2 defense, they have tied the defense record for the two-year old belt, a record made by Julian Cutlass and Alexander Irvine back in early 2017. With the ACES WILD! tandem of Mike Musket and Jun Vegas secured as the challengers for the V3 defense on 10/14, the Demon Brigade promised to deliver a record-breaking performance.

After the show, reporters caught up with General Manager Masaaki Sano, who told them that he was pleased with the effort of the fighters so far. For the most part, reasonable sportsmanship on both sides had been put forth. He congratulated the Demon Brigade for their defense of the tag titles, and as he was about to continue… Billy Danielson emerged. The G.O.A.T. arrived to shake Danielson’s hand, telling the GM he was excited to compete in a MAX-J ring as well as complimenting David Troy’s win earlier in the night, and wished him good luck for the tag match on 9/21 in which they would be on opposite sides. Sano seemed a bit stunned but nodded politely during the encounter.

Solomon Bentley caught up with Troy and asked him what he thought about Danielson. Troy shrugged it off, stating that Danielson could do whatever he wanted as long as he kept his distance and that the King of Lions title would belong to the strongest champion.

We get back to the action on 9/21 where we will have a main event headlined by the first of our MAX vs. LION’S ROAD ~ SUPER REVENGE matches, with Tokyo Zombie versus AJ Knight. Zombie pinned AJ Knight in tag team competition a few months ago and AJ, then the King of Lions Champion, had discussed returning to Japan to defend the belt against Zombie. Despite having lost the title to the current champ, David Troy, AJ wants to put that fall behind him. The REVENGE matches are unique in that they cannot end in a draw. Therefore, we know we will see a winner on 9/21! You won’t wanna miss it!

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ATTACK OF THE CASTLE! Day 2