shiningbakayaro

Golden Week cards were announced earlier today, with some interesting matchups.  In what is considered a dream encounter for Bad Force fans, Zero & GAINA take on Hideyoshi & Masamune in the 5/5 main event.  5/6 is a rare six match card, headlined by an intriguing six-man main event of Tigers, Zero & Delfin taking on Buffalo, GAINA & Cooger.  The show also features a MWF defense by Condor against former champion "Kabuto" Beetle.  That day of course is the final appearance for Zero, GAINA, Delfin, Tanaka & Kinukawa before they go off to Okinawa.  One would hope that 5/6 is the May show taped for sky-A.

Osaka Pro-Wrestling 5/3/08
Tsubosaka-dera Temple
1. Daisuke Harada vs. Tomoya Kinukawa
2. Zeus & Tadasuke vs. Robert Tanaka & Ebessan
3. Tsubasa & Asian Cooger vs. Zero & Condor
4. Super Delfin & Kuishinbo Kamen vs. Miracle Man & Kanjyuro Matsuyama
5. Tigers Mask, Black Buffalo & Takoyakida vs. GAINA, Hideyoshi & Atsushi Kotoge

Osaka Pro-Wrestling 5/4/08
"OSAKA HOLIDAY PARADISE"
Osaka Delfin Arena Dotonbori
1. Black Buffalo vs. Tomoya Kinukawa
2. Asian Cooger vs. Robert Tanaka
3. Tigers Mask & Takoyakida vs. Super Delfin & Ebessan
4. Zeus, Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke vs. Hideyoshi, Masamune & Atsushi Kotoge
5. Miracle Man, Kuishinbo Kamen & Kanjyuro Matsuyama vs. Zero, GAINA & Condor

Osaka Pro-Wrestling 5/5/08
"OSAKA HOLIDAY PARADISE"
Osaka Delfin Arena Dotonbori
1. Tigers Mask vs. Takoyakida
2. 3 Way Match: Black Buffalo vs. Atsushi Kotoge vs. Condor
3. Tsubasa, Asian Cooger & Robert Tanaka vs. Zeus, Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke
4. Super Delfin, Kuishinbo Kamen & Tomoya Kinukawa vs. Miracle Man, Ebessan & Kanjyuro Matsuyama
5. Zero & GAINA vs. Hideyoshi & Masamune

Osaka Pro-Wrestling 5/6/08
"OSAKA HOLIDAY PARADISE"
Osaka Delfin Arena Dotonbori
1. Zeus vs. Takoyakida
2. Daisuke Harada, Takoyakida & Tomoya Kinukawa vs. Hideyoshi, Masamune & Atsushi Kotoge
3. 3 Way Match: Kuishinbo Kamen vs. Ebessan vs. Kanjyuro Matsuyama
4. Tsubasa vs. Robert Tanaka
5. MWF Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Condor (c) vs. "Kabuto" Beetle
6. Tigers Mask, Zero & Super Delfin vs. Black Buffalo, GAINA & Asian Cooger

In case you were wondering about the big blog announcement alluded to last week, it will be revealed tomorrow in time for the IMP Hall show.

shiningbakayaro

The IMP Hall card was announced and it's a good solid card.  The eight-man tag between Sekigun and the former Bad Force will probably be the best bout, along with the opener.  Zeus and Akebono has the obvious "freak show" attraction to it.  Not a real good feeling about how the match is going to turn out for Zeus though.  It'll be interesting to see how Zero & GAINA do in the main event and how much cooperation will take place.  This'll be the first time Gran Naniwa's stepped in an Osaka ring since Tennozan 2006, where he pledged to participate more in Osaka.  I would guess injuries have still taken its toll on Naniwa, but I'm glad to see him back.

As posted earlier today, I expect information on the annual contract renewals to be known shortly.  I don't think there will be any surprises in terms of people going freelance (i.e. Flash Moon), but hopefully some light will be shed in regards to who will be replacing the Okinawa-bound guys.  Hideyoshi & Masamune will probably still have the same freelance tag, but make Osaka their homebase.  Buffalo's situation might be somewhat intriguing, in terms of if he'll be under Osaka contract.  Keep in mind that he wasn't on the roster at this time last year and returned during the annual summer Tag Festival.

Finally, there will be some big news regarding this blog sometime this weekend.  Please look forward to it.

shiningbakayaro

April is usually the time for Osaka contract renewals and the first wrestler has come forward in regards to negotiations.  According to his blog, Asian Cooger talked with Osaka about a contract renewal before yesterday's Holiday Paradise show and agreed to terms.  Thus, Cooger will be making Osaka his home base for another year.

shiningbakayaro

A bit of news to start.....the March Osaka show aired on sky-A this past weekend, with the Okinawa Pro-Wrestling announcement added at the end.  The big news out of this is that Okinawa will be airing on sky-A when it debuts.  Still, it's been a week since the shocking announcement and fans still aren't warming up to the idea.  I talked about this in depth already, but Osaka simply doesn't have the roster to do a "brand extension."  Will Fuke and Tsubasa be participating more?  More outsiders or freelancers?  We'll see how the cards look after Golden Week, but the feeling isn't good at the moment.

What Delfin and company basically did was kill fan optimism.  Osaka was perhaps in one of its hottest periods in recent memory, coming out of Hurricane.  Kotoge unexpectedly turned heel and Tigers-Buffalo turned out to be as "epic" as an independent company can produce.  This all led to the slow burn face turn for Buffalo, who got a huge popularity boost despite the unmasking.  Fan attendance was better than usual.  Then, the Okinawa announcement came and the positive air was sucked right out.  

If you take away the announcement, the whole tag title situation would've been huge:

1) Zero & GAINA just returned from BJW, successfully defending in enemy territory.  They put out a challenge to any Osaka team, leaving it up to the company to decide.

2) Zeus & Harada put out the challenge, fresh off the heels of forming B&G (which is gaining some steam despite the questionable name).

3) Tigers & Buffalo, with all their history, beat Hide'mune....one of the more decorated teams since 2005.  They answer the challenge as well, leading to the tag title decision match.

Now you've got a decision match....Tigers, who's been a mentor of sorts to Harada.  Buffalo and Zeus, who were Bad Force members at one point.  Tigers and Zeus, who met in the Tennozan Finals.  The winners go on to meet Zero & GAINA.  Think of the possibilities.

1) Zeus & Harada vs. Zero & GAINA.  Zeus looks for the ultimate revenge against his former teammates and wins the tag titles with new ally Harada.  Also keep in mind that Zeus is a former tag champ himself.....with GAINA.

2) Tigers & Buffalo vs. Zero & GAINA.  The ultimate fairy tale ending as Buffalo redeems himself from all his personal troubles to win the tag belts with Tigers, the one who helped him during his dark times.  Buffalo also gets revenge against BF for the banishment.

Instead, the Okinawa annoucement has taken a lot out of this.  Instead of "how's it going to end", it's "Zero & GAINA are leaving soon so we know they're not taking the belts."

And let's not get back into the discussion of what the rudo side will look like after 5/6.  The way things are going, we'll see Buffalo go heel again with a mask on....pissing away all the work done in the past few months.  And pissing on the fans, who basically went on this roller coaster ride for nothing.

It's going to be an interesting time a month from now.....and maybe not for the better.

If you have any thoughts on Okinawa and the future, please feel free to comment at any time.

 

shiningbakayaro

Tigers Mask participated on K-Dojo's Korakuen Hall show today, successfully defending the Osaka Pro Title against Daigoro Kashiwa.  Tigers only needed about 12 minutes to put away Kashiwa with a henkei Tigers Suplex Hold, perhaps the same one that put away Buffalo at Hurricane.  However, he posted a blog shortly afterwards about having some neck pain.  No word on how serious it is.

Kaientai Dojo 4/13/08
"CLUB K-SUPER EV. 7"
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,113 Fans
1. Osaka Pro Title Match: Tigers Mask (c) beat Daigoro Kashiwa (11:33) with a henkei Tigers Suplex Hold (5th defense).