by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinThis tweet was the moment that King’s Road Wrestling opened its doors and began its journey to become the biggest promotion in Japan. Mere moments after the official King’s Road Twitter account went live, a tweet was released explaining that the first events in King’s Road Wrestling history would be the King’s Road Cup, the winner of which would walk away with the trophy, and more importantly, the KRW Heavyweight Championship Belt. Moments later, a second tweet was released with the official brackets and dates, clarifying that there would in fact be 7 total events, the latter of which, on the 20th March, would culminate in that all important inaugural Champion. Fast forward to the 11th March and we start with the opening night, 4 matches from the tournament brackets, whilst the night itselfwould be main evented by a singles match for another new championship - the KRW All-Asia Championship between the beast of King’s Road Wrestling and Pretty Hate Machine member - Sora Kobyashi - and leader of Los Jevenos Equivocados - Koki Nakamura. Matchcard11th March 2018 Ryōgoku Sumō Hall, Tokyo 8:00pm Match #1 - King’s Road Cup Round 1 MatchJayden Roberts (Jinmin-Gun) vs. Shita Yomeshita (RAGE) Match #2 - 6-Man Tag Team MatchHaruma Endo, Haru & Tatsuki Saito (Phoenix) vs. Toma Fujita, Sosuke Kato & Takuma Mori (Jinmin-Gun) Match #3 - King’s Road Cup Round 1 MatchRen Yamazaki (RAGE) vs. Kaito Mastsumoto (Phoenix) Match #4 - 6-Man Tag Team MatchHORROR, TORMENT & Yuma Shimizu (Pretty Hate Machine) vs. El Destino, El Fuego, Young Blood (Los Jevenos Equivocados) Match #5 - Tag Team MatchThe Coltons (RAGE) vs. Apex & Zenith (Jinmin-Gun) Match #6 - King’s Road Cup Round 1 MatchDaiki Ishikawa (Jinmin-Gun) vs. Aoto Kondo (Phoenix) Match #7 - King’s Road Cup Round 1 MatchKota Inoue (Pretty Hate Machine) vs. Hayato Watanabe (RAGE) Match #8 - KRW All-Asia Championship MatchSora Kobyashi (Pretty Hate Machine) vs. Koki Nakamura (Los Jevenos Equivocados) In a knockdown drag out brawl of an opener, the leader of Jinmin-Gun Jayden Roberts took on the hulking frame of Shita Yomesita, the leader of RAGE in the first of the King’s Road Cup Matches. Though Roberts launched a volley of dropkicks and swinging neckbreakers, even grazing Yomeshita with a Superkick, he found himself outmatched with the RAGE leader, with no response to the strength and size of the brutish Yomeshita. After two towering vertical suplexes, Yomeshita executed his Ice Breaker lariat which bought him a win and therefore, a passage into the Quarter-Finals.
Having seen their leader fall at the first hurdle in his attempt to become the inaugural KRW Heavyweight Champion, 3 More members of the Jinmin-Gun stable sought revenge in six-man tag team encounter against members of the Phoenix stable. Even though Phoenix spotted a tried and tested Tag Team in this six-man Match (The Fallen comprised of the Saito Brothers; Haru and Tatsuki) at no point did they look like overcoming a Jinmin-Gun team with the bit between their teeth. From the word go, Toma Fujita set about dismantling the Saito brothers and Haruma Endo, launching them halfway across the ring with astonishingly powerful suplexes. Not to be outshone, once tagged in, Takumi Mori launched himself through the ropes at Endo with a Suicide Dive before bringing the pace down with a series of holds. Unable to wrestle their high octane style, the members of Phoenix were ground down until all that it took to gain the pinfall victory was a Mori European Uppercut to the chin of Tatsuki Saito who, exhausted, could not kick out. A small modicum of redemption therefore for Jinmin-Gun. Another 1st round match from the King’s Road Cup followed this, pitting RAGE’s Ren Yamazaki and Phoenix’s Kaito Matsumoto against each other. A fairly cut and dried encounter followed with Matsumoto looking in little distress throughout the 12 minute encounter, ending the match with a brutal looking Final Cut to progress and face another RAGE member - leader Shita Yomeshita In a rather strange match-up, we had three of PHM’s more imposing Heavyweights in the tag team of HORROR & TORMENT with Yuma Shimizu, taking on the 3 luchador Junior Heavyweights of LJE; El Fuego, El Destino and Young Blood. But if the match-up was odd, that is nothing to the result which saw Young Blood pin the shell-shocked TORMENT after a feat of strength many thought him completley incapable of; lifting TORMENT onto his shoulders before hitting his MW2 Lumbar Check. A shock win for Los Jevenos Equivocados, and one that could see painful repercussions at the hands of Pretty Hate Machine! A match of distinctly clashing styles followed this in the Tag Team Match between the high-flyers of Apex and Zenith and the brutish brawling style of the Redneck twins The Coltons. But what a story told in the ring between these two teams, Big Jack and Harper Colton brutalised the Jinmin-Gun team for huge portions of the match, repeatedly being hit with Colton Drivers and locked in the Colton Lock for what seemed like an age. Big Jack especially seemed to take great pleasure in the brutality he was inflicting. However, Apex and Zenith continued to fight, and continued to thwart the savagery of The Coltons, landing offense where possible. Both members managed to hit their signature moves, Zenith’s Shooting StarBuck yielding a painfully close two count. Still The Coltons seemed to be on top though. That was until one final Moonsault from Apex however, who pinned Harper Colton while Zenith sacrificed himself to keep Big Jack on the outside. A great match, a surprising result and an excellent advert for the King’s Road Tag Team division! With one member of Jinmin-Gun already eliminated from the King’s Road Cup, it was important for Daiki Ishikawa to progress past Aoto Kondo of Phoenix. However, what followed was somewhat of a squash match, with the match clicking in at just under 10 minutes. Ishikawa never got going in this match and seemed completley out of his depth against the veteran with his wealth of experience. A towering scoop Slam is all that was needed for Kondo to progress to the next round and take on the winner of the next match in 2 days time. It turned out that Kondo’s opponent in the next round would be Hayato Watanabe who disposed of Kota Inoue in dominant fashion, catching him in the jaw with a picture perfect Missile Dropkick. The match lasted only 9 minutes and perfectly demonstrated the dominance of Watanabe going forward. RAGE had another man heading into the Quarter-Finals. Main Eventing the first night of the King’s Road Cup was a match to crown the first All-Asia Champion in King’s Road history, with the belt being touted as the secondary championship in the promotion. Vying for this title were crowd favourite and leader of Los Jevenos Equivocados Koki Nakamura and the man they call The Beast of the East, Sora Kobyashi. It was the Beast in fact who imposed himself quickly on this match, countering every attempt of Nakamura’s to land any offence with sheer brutish strength. The match ended with Nakamura coming off the ropes with an attempted cross body, only to be caught with a vicious spinning spinebuster by Kobyashi for the win. Kobyashi walked away the victor, slinging his newly gained prize over his shoulder, before thinking again, doubling back and continuing the beat down of Nakamura. It took security, 2 referees and intervention from LJE member Hashimoto to halt the onslaught. As Nakamura was escorted to the back by medical staff, Hashimoto faced off with the new All-Asia champion as we faded to black. |
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