Post by MAX Office on Oct 15, 2018 9:53:05 GMT -5
When MAX General Manager Masaaki Sano banned the Lion's Road Pro-Wrestling fighters from competing at PRO-WRESTLING TOUKON Vol. 1 on 10/14 due to what he deemed "in-fighting disrespectful to the standards of MAXIMUM Japan and pro-wrestling more generally" during the ATTACK OF THE CASTLE! Tour, his decision was met with furious disagreement from the company's owner, Chikashi Enatsu. After a heated argument on 10/13, the two parted company and Enatsu vowed to take revenge against his hand-picked right-hand man.
The next day, on 10/14, reports surfaced that an event had been booked at Sawara Municipal Gymnasium under the MAX-J banner, reportedly at the same time as MAX-J's PRO-WRESTLING TOUKON event across town. In this tournament, Enatsu booked the Lion's Road wrestlers in an eight team tag tournament, partnering each with a student in MAX Dojo, technically not on the MAX roster and not subject to recall by GM Sano. The prize for the winners would be a combined 20,000,000 yen (approx. US$ 178,000).
With only seven Lion's Road fighters, it was "gaijin hunter" Go Gensai teaming with Hiro Minamoto, the fighters actually hailing a cab after the opening match of PRO-WRESTLING TOUKON to make their tournament match on time, to constitute the eighth team. Gensai and his partner came to be seen as the de facto representative of Sano's faction in the tournament and the tournament was watched with interest by the fans across town as well as GM Sano.
It was quite a showdown that would lead to a final match where Rafa Whatley and Umetaro Sakamoto would square off against Gensai and Minamoto. It was a worthy back-and-forth, but in the end it was the team led by Rafa Whatley of Lion's Road which would overcome the Gensai-led de facto MAX team, capping off the tour with an important victory for the gaijin squad which had suffered many disappointments, many of them caused by in-fighting on the Lion's Road side.
Quarterfinals
Billy Danielson and Shigeru Toyama defeat Justin Seville and Sheik Spectre (10:04) via pinfall after Danielson uses a Dragon suplex hold on Spectre.
Rafa Whatley and Umetaro Sakamoto defeat Alexander Irvine and Genji Ikeda (11:45) via pinfall when Sakamoto uses a Northern Lights suplex hold on Ikeda.
AJ Knight and KOSUKE defeat Matt Pulver and Shachimon (12:02) via pinfall after Knight uses a superkick on Shachimon.
Go Gensai and Hiro Minamoto defeat David Troy and Falcon Hamada (13:18) via pinfall after Minamoto uses the God’s Neighbor on Hamada.
Semifinals
Rafa Whatley and Umetaro Sakamoto defeat Billy Danielson and Shigeru Toyama (14:06) via pinfall after Rafa uses a triple-powerbomb+DVD on Toyama.
Go Gensai and Hiro Minamoto defeat AJ Knight and KOSUKE (16:34) via submission when Gensai uses a cross armbreaker on KOSUKE.
Final
Rafa Whatley and Umetaro Sakamoto defeat Go Gensai and Hiro Minamoto (19:55) via pinfall after Sakamoto uses an octopus hold on Minamoto to win the 20,000,000 yen.