Puro Power

Kazuyuki Fujita spent his 30th anniversary the way he has spent most of his career: ending a match with the Beast Bomb.

On the 1st, 30 years to the day since his debut, Fujita teamed with Naomichi Marufuji to face Kenoh, who challenges Tetsuya Naito for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on 9 November, and Black Menso-re. Before the bell, Marufuji presented him with a celebratory bouquet in the ring.

It was a fitting tribute. Fujita joined New Japan from the Nihon University wrestling team in 1996 and trained under the late Antonio Inoki. He climbed high in MMA, rose to the top of New Japan by winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and captured the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Katsuhiko Nakajima in February 2022, officially joining NOAH.

Anniversary or not, he was in no mood to hold back. He hit a double lariat on both opponents, then showered Menso-re with a brainbuster, a lariat and a face kick that knocked off his mask, before finishing him with the Beast Bomb.

Afterwards, he took the microphone and thanked the fans. “Thirty years ago today, I jumped into this world, looking up to my great master and senior wrestlers... The reason I am able to stand in this ring today is all thanks to the warm cheers of the fans.”

He bowed his head and the venue responded with applause. He also thanked CyberFight and NOAH for giving him the opportunity.

#noah_ghc

The new Japanese book “Fallen Castle” tells the story of All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling, the promotion that inspired Netflix’s The Queen of Villains.

For 37 years, AJW produced more than 170 wrestlers and ruled the joshi scene, creating crazes through the Beauty Pair, the Crush Gals and more. Yet it collapsed with debts of roughly 3.5 billion yen.

Chigusa Nagayo hated the founders, the Matsunaga brothers, and loved them too.

Nagayo, who rose to fame in the Crush Gals, knows the system better than most. From 1968, the promotion belonged solely to the four Matsunaga brothers, and she says it was run on ruthless principles. Wrestlers were told not to watch men’s wrestling and arguments were crushed. They joined in their teens, with nowhere else to go. “Never turn away those who come, never pursue those who leave.”

Her verdict is a complicated one. “Zenjo (AJW) was a strange company," she told WEB The Television. "But without that, you couldn’t raise monsters. I was one of those monsters myself, and Zenjo was a monster factory.”

Until the Crush Gals exploded in popularity, she was repeatedly told there were plenty of people to replace her. When she retired in May 1989, the fourth brother, Kunimatsu, asked her to stay on and assist as a booker. She refused and her response shaped the rest of her career. She launched GAEA Japan in 1994, determined to make them realise what a big fish they had let get away.

Today, after 46 years in women’s wrestling and a decade of running Marvelous, she still hears the echoes. “I’ve denied Zenjo in the past, but inside of me, that ‘Zenjo-ism’ might still be flowing.”

Atsushi Onita doesn’t plan to slow down at 70 and he says he doesn’t mind where it ends.

After beating The Great Sasuke, Onita spoke to Battle-News about the mark the two men have left on the Japanese independent scene.

Sasuke’s Michinoku Pro became Japan’s first regional powerhouse in Tohoku and helped popularise lucharesu, while FMW is still talked about today for all sorts of reasons. Onita believes they’re the reason promotions cropped up across different regions in Japan.

He had warm words for his old rival. “Sasuke’s greatness lies in his generous spirit and his vast repertoire. A wrestler who can do anything is truly wonderful. It was fun doing this again after so long.”

Onita then revealed his plans for 2027. He wants to run 70th Birthday Current Blast matches across the country.

“Even if I collapse dead doing it, so be it.”

His schedule goes well beyond that. Around March, he wants to travel to Nepal for reconstruction support. In November, he heads to the United States for a memorial match for Dory Funk Jr., with memorials for Terry Funk and Osamu Nishimura also on his list.

“I absolutely have to go.”

@onitafire123
@the_greatsasuke

Yuki Arai spent her first months as the Princess of Princess champion crushed by anxiety and now she says she can finally call herself the champion.

Arai heads into her sixth title defence against Shoko Nakajima at Korakuen Hall on the weekend.

The road to this point wasn’t smooth. A former SKE48 member who debuted in 2021 and committed fully to wrestling last March, Arai became the 17th champion this year yet the belt weighed heavily. “For the first two or three months, I felt tremendous anxiety and pressure," she told Tokyo Sports.

The turning point came in July, in her fourth title defence against Miyu Yamashita. After the match, Yamashita told her to get it together and reminded her she was the champion. Arai said it tightened her resolve, so that her vulnerabilities wouldn’t show.

People around her now say she looks bigger. She laughed that she hasn’t grown, but confidence shows in the way you stand.

“I’ve reached the point where I can confidently say I am the champion.”

#tjpw
@araiyuki57

Mirko Cro Cop fought Japanese opponents 15 times and won 14. The one fighter he couldn’t beat was Nobuhiko Takada.

The story begins with Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001, a New Year’s Eve event at Saitama Super Arena that TBS planned to broadcast in prime time, an unprecedented move for combat sports. K-1 approached Mirko about competing under its MMA rules, and in August he took on Kazuyuki Fujita, known as “the Last Successor to Inoki-ism.”

Mirko timed a devastating knee to Fujita’s takedown, left him bleeding heavily and forced a stoppage. Suddenly, he was a villain in Japan, the most hated since the Gracies.

Takada made the call for a New Japan wrestler to avenge Fujita. Nobody answered, so he stepped forward himself. Few took him seriously. Rickson Gracie had beaten him at the Tokyo Dome in October 1997 and 1998, and he was mocked as the “Fast-Tapping Man.” Even his mentor Inoki had said the weakest man had gone out there, and some labelled him a “Class-A war criminal” for damaging wrestling’s claim to be the strongest fighting discipline.

At PRIDE 17, he was determined not to repeat his mistakes. Early on he fractured his right heel and chose to sit on the canvas to lure Mirko into a ground fight, but Mirko refused to engage. The fight became what many call an “Inoki-Ali” situation and ended in a draw.

Cro Cop was unsympathetic towards Takada, telling the Japanese press at the time: "I feel sick and don't want to say much. I cannot believe he would fight like that in front of 55,000 spectators. I think Takada is a coward."