7/7/2023 - CRUISERWORLD! Day 1

PMLL World Cruiserweight Champion Pollo Dorado II would make short work for Earth Warrior, who showed up to the ring carrying a picket sign featuring a picture of a dolphin caught in the net of a tuna trawler to protest over-fishing. However, it would be Earth Warrior himself who would find himself ensnared as the champion would catch the environmental activist in a guillotine chokehold and force a referee stoppage after the young fighter passed out. After the match, Pollo Dorado II said he admired Earth Warrior for not giving up and, whether you like his political views or not, he deserved credit for competing.

In the second match of the evening, AJ Knight would prove that he is in tip-top shape in an intra-Pollo Road showdown in which he went up against Jin Hirai and push Team USA’s series lead to 2-0. Fans were treated to a tense sequence after Hirai took down Knight with a Judo-inspired hip throw, but he would avoid falling into any traps on the mat, eventually working the fighters back up to their feet, hitting his patented Knightfall DDT and pinning the Japanese-Jamaican Hirai. Upon leaving the ring, Knight apparently said, “Let’s see ZENKI top that one!” to the Japanese press ringside which created an enthusiastic stir among the crowd.

In the third match we had Sangre de Pollo versus former MAX Jr. Heavyweight Champion METAL HERO in a match that treated the fans to what could have been mistaken early for a kickboxing match. The two fighters traded strikes and METAL HERO’s cold, machine-like offense put the Dark Chicken down on the mat and a running head kick would seemingly garner the victory, but a foot on the ropes would cause the match to continue.

Sangre would eventually take down METAL HERO with a double-armed takedown and attempt to lock on the Ala y Garra, but the cagey masked fighter managed to escape and get to his feet and hit a seated Sangre with a roundhouse kick to the head that would induce visible wooziness. METAL HERO stood Sangre up to his feet and put him in position to attempt his patented running brainbuster, but Sangre in a sudden burst of energy rolled METAL HERO into an inside cradle for the 1-2-3! The fans were in complete shock to see the Atomic Assassin be upset on Day 1.

During his exit from the ring, Sangre de Pollo held up 3 fingers to remind the Japanese fans that Team USA now had a 3-0 lead in the series. This did not sit well with Demon Lord ZENKI, still one of the most popular yet polarizing figures in Japanese pro-wrestling, who took this celebration as an affront and traversed through the crowd to confront Sangre. Security, however, intervened successfully and restrained the Demon Lord.

The fourth match would pit Thunder Mask's protégé Katsu “Genius” Himura against MEZA in a chain-wrestling clinic that would pit the timing based attacks of MEZA, at one point seeing him hit the Cadena de la Muerte against Himura who barely managed to escape the kneebar portion of the move and get to the ropes. A desperate Himura, however, would showcase why the world considers him a pro-wrestling savant and transform a lariat attempt by MEZA into his panted sambo-style STO – known as the Diamond Yari Drop – and temporarily stun MEZA long enough to score the pinfall victory. A stunned MEZA would later slap the ring with disappointment as LYNX counseled him as they exited the ring on how to prevent such a counter.

ZENKI would predictably defeat Orville Newton to cut USA’s lead to 3-2. However, the result of the match would garner less attention than the conduct of the match itself. An outgunned Newton would find himself the recipient of the Demon Lord’s fury, as ZENKI targeted the lanky fighter’s knee with Dragon Screw leg-whips and. This, however, was meant to keep Newton immobile as ZENKI pounded him mercilessly with soccer kicks to the head and then stand Newton up to prevent the referee from calling the fight only to down him with a powerbomb or brainbuster, then picking him up again to prolong the match.

In a rare showing of unity, AJ Knight and Pollo Dorado II left the staging area in anger to address ringside officials and beg them to stop the match. Upon seeing this, ZENKI placed his foot upon the chest of the downed Newton for an easy pin. ZENKI addressed the crowd and said that his actions were simply justified payback for Team USA’s earlier disrespect and that he would not allow the Americans to soil the country’s pristine beauty.

PMLL newcomer Takashi Shinobu would even the USA-JAPAN series at 3-3 with a victory over Ultimo Pollo IV, showing a dazzling array of offense that had the fans along the beach ooh and aww with excitement. Ultimo Pollo did not do himself any favors in the match, however, when he attempted a tope suicida to the outside of the ring and ultimately missing and crashing through the bamboo guardrail that separates the fans from ringside. The Golden Ace would finish Ultimo off with his signature fisherman’s buster, the Dragon’s Curse, for the victory.

In the seventh match of the evening, LYNX would build upon his strong showing at Pollo Road’s RAINBOW ROAD event last month and score a win over “Starboy” Shigeru Toyama, a veteran of the Japanese junior heavyweight scene and former MAX superstar. Every attempt that Toyama made to initiate offense was scuttled by LYNX’s strong defense, eventually catching Toyama in an Anaconda Vise headlock to force Toyama to tap-out and bring the series lead to 4-3 in favor of the USA.

Back in the staging area, Demon Lord ZENKI would berate Toyama for submitting to unholy American dogs and blamed their foul stench for Toyama not competing as well as he may have hoped. In fact, he protested to officials that they pause the show in order to allow the ringside attendants to wipe down the ring for the main event, claiming that he would not let “the American odor” put the Japanese team at a disadvantage. The American fighters were annoyed at this display, throwing up their hands in disbelief. Nevertheless, the show would briefly pause when ringside officials allowed the attendants to briefly sanitize the ring.

After this interruption, we finally made it to the main event as the sky began to transition from deep blue to a golden hue. Despite the hostility from earlier in the evening, Thunder Mask and David Troy were both greeted with enthusiasm from the fans and the two fighters shook hands at the beginning of the match to a large pop from the crowd. The two veteran fighters began the match slowly and with deliberation, trading a series of headlocks and head-scissors to test one another’s reflexes. After Troy escaped a head-scissors by initiating a headstand and using his hands to push him out of the hold, the crowd responded with sportsman-like applause.

Thunder Mask would respond by going on the offense, combined his judo background with throws and eventually hit a moonsault press but only to score a two-count eventually. Going for a running shotei, Troy would duck and catch Thunder Mask for a release German suplex that had a slow-moving, tsunami-like arc that dropped Thunder Mask on the back of his head and rolling him onto his stomach. The referee began a count but Thunder Mask grabbed one of the ropes and got himself up to his feet.

A surging Troy would to back the Cruiser-God into the turnbuckle where he ran forward and use the ropes to leverage a running knee strike that would send Thunder Mask staggering out dazed into the center of the ring. Troy would ascend to the top rope, having to steady himself by kneeling and clutching the top rope with both hands as the ocean breeze whipped across the beach. However, his patience paid off and he leapt forward with a missile dropkick that knocked Thunder Mask into the turnbuckle across the ring and once more stumbling around.

Troy would proceed to haunt the deteriorating Thunder Mask with a series of roundhouse kick to the chest. However, inexplicably, the sharpness of these kicks seemed to only reanimate the Cruiser-God who respond with knifehand chops to the chest that stirred the fans into a frenzy. The two traded these strikes until neither could continue.

The next key point in the match came when Thunder Mask attempted a running shotei but Troy would reverse it into a standing arm triangle choke! As Troy wrenched the hold and Thunder Mask struggled, attempting to elbow and wriggle his way out of it, and eventually creating enough separation to lock on a headlock and hitting a snap DDT. At this point he would ascend to the top rope as the gales from the sea caused the ring to visibly tremble. Raising a finger in the air, he leapt from the top rope – not for his patented moonsault – but for a 450 splash that sliced through the winds to hit its mark and score the 1-2-3! Team Japan members would rush to the ring to celebrate the Cruiser-God tying up the series at 4-4 as the fans stood to their feet and applauded the efforts of both participants. Troy would be helped out of the ring by AJ Knight holding his ribcage.

Sunset would follow in a few hours and the beach would be flooded with conversation regarding the day’s events. Many of the fighters were seen to be in difficult shape. Orville Newton had reportedly been transported to a local hospital accompanied by Pollo Dorado II. METAL HERO would apparently be heard complaining to trainers that the day’s heat overloaded his firmware. David Troy would be spotted with his ribcage bandaged up but reportedly on the way to a local gym with AJ Knight to do some late-night preparation for the next day’s event.

The USA-Japan series knotted up at 4-4 will see a brief pause tomorrow as Day Two will see the quarterfinals of the World Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament begin. As a result of increasing local interest in the tournament, municipal officials will be adding 500 seats to the event as CRUISERWORLD! is just getting started.

---

CRUISERWORLD! – Day 1
Date: 7/7/2023
Location: Shirahama Beach, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 1,500 fans (100% capacity)

1. Pollo Dorado II defeats Earth Warrior (6:55) via referee stoppage (guillotine chokehold).
2. AJ Knight defeats Jin Hirai (8:13) via pinfall after the Knightfall DDT.
3. Sangre de Pollo defeats METAL HERO (10:06) via pinfall with an inside cradle.
4. Katsuhiko Himura defeats MEZA (9:58) via pinfall after the Diamond Yari Drop.
5. ZENKI defeats Orville Newton (11:54) via pinfall after a gutwrench powerbomb.
6. Takashi Shinobu defeats Ultimo Pollo IV (8:29) via pinfall after the Dragon’s Curse.
7. LYNX defeats Shigeru Toyama (9:51) via submission after the Anaconda Vise.
8. Thunder Mask defeats David Troy (17:37) via pinfall after a 450 splash.