7/8/2023 - CRUISERWORLD! Day 2

The tension was in full stride before the show even began as we saw a number of DEMON BRIGADE t-shirts in the crowd in support of Demon Lord ZENKI and his former faction. The interaction wasn’t simply limited to interaction with the Japanese fans, as we also saw a heartwarming scene occurred in which an 89-year-old woman approached David Troy in the Team USA staging area and presented him a traditional herbal ointment known as Jidabokuippo that she said he should rub on his wounds to reduce the inflammation from Thunder Mask’s 450 splash from yesterday’s main event. She happily posed for photographs with the team of AJ and David Troy and thanked them for showing that Japan is a welcoming country for the entire world.

The “PMLL Civil War” as it was billed pitted Team Pollo versus Shinobu and Hirai in what was back-and-forth occasion, but the Pollos were in control for most of the match. Shinobu stood out with a Dragon suplex hold that nearly picked up the three-count for the Japanese team from Pollo Road, but it was Sangre de Pollo continuing his impressive showing in the tournament thus far after yesterday’s upset of METAL HERO, using the Varicella to pick up the win.

The second match of the day featured action straight from the get-go with METAL HERO taking an aggressive approach with a series of kicks to battle AJ Knight back into a corner. However, AJ would eventually battle back after catching a kick, hitting a series of elbows to the masked fighter, and then scooping him up for a captured buster in the first major spot of the night and tagging in Troy.

Troy kept the offense going and showed no ill effects of yesterday’s injury, using suplexes and throws to keep METAL HERO on the mat and reduce his ability to make for a stand-up fight. But the Atomic Asssassin wouldn’t give up, eventually securing a cross armbreaker but letting it go immediately to tag in Earth Warrior, who flew into the ring with a springboard dropkick leaping from the top rope to land a missile dropkick into Troy’s chest to cheers from the crowd!

The match continued in this back-and-forth manner with Knight and Troy using their team skills to generally dictate the pace of the match, but the underdog “Climate Fighter” Earth Warrior would use his youth and athleticism to duck high kicks an back-flip out of suplex attempts, managing to bring in the calculated METAL HERO often at the last second.

METAL HERO’s offense would pick up steam after nailing AJ with a backdrop hold, but only getting a two-count. He would attempt a running face kick, but the defensively-minded AJ would catch the kick, spin HERO around, nail a super-kick and tag in Troy! Troy would get METAL HERO up to his feet and slap on a Muay Thai clinch sending knees into the body of the masked man. However, the crowd watched as Troy seemed to slow down quite a bit and stumble backward, holding his side and roaring in pain! The crowd quieted as it seemed that Troy’s injury had re-surfaced. A nervous AJ called for the tag in but METAL HERO hit the Metallic Kick to the back of the head! He’d go for the pin but Troy would get the shoulder up while roaring in pain!

AJ Knight could be seen visibly frustrated, shaking the ropes with fury to inspire the embattled Troy, currently face first on the mat and holding his side, being pummeled with soccer kicks. METAL HERO would reach out to tag in a rather nervous Earth Warrior, who would enter the ring cautiously. Earth Warrior would unleash stomps on Troy while METAL HERO took to the outside of the ring to pull AJ off the ropes. Although the 30-count was in effect for how long METAL HERO could remain on the outside while AJ held onto the top rope, it was not much of a risk as an incapacitated Troy could do nothing but allow an opportunistic Earth Warrior to ascend to the top rope and hit a diving senton bomb and pick up the 1-2-3 to score the upset!

As the fans applauded, AJ tended to Troy in the ring, sitting him up next to the bottom turnbuckle and removed the bandages to find Troy’s midsection to find it not covered in bruises but in bright crimson welts! Amidst this confusion, suddenly the fans burst into a frenzy and all eyes were at the top of the wooden aisle that led to the ring. There stood Demon Lord ZENKI and the 89-year-old woman from earlier who had given David Troy the traditional ointment wearing a DEMON BRIGADE t-shirt! ZENKI reeled with laughter as the two stood arm in arm as everyone on the beach now understood that the elderly woman was a Demon Brigade zealot and that what she had gifted to Troy was no ointment at all but a topical poison.

As ringside attendants helped Troy to his feet, AJ complained to ringside officials regarding that the result should be overturned due to match interference. METAL HERO and Earth Warrior, protested that they had no knowledge of ZENKI’s activities and had done nothing wrong. In fact, back under their staging tent, many of Team Japan’s members seemed perplexed and about ZENKI’s actions, with Thunder Mask reportedly seen with his hands on his hips shaking his head. After a brief huddle, ringside officials concluded that the result of the match would stand because it was Troy who in fact applied the substance to his injuries and therefore bore culpability for the outcome. As AJ helped Troy to Team USA tent, he seemed to never take his gaze off ZENKI, who gentlemanly escorted his nefarious geriatric comrade to a VIP in the Team Japan tent.

After a short break, the tournament continued with the MEZA and LYNX taking on one of the two strongest teams from Japan – Thunder Mask and Katsuhiko Himura. It was the two younger fighters, MEZA and Himura that got thing started and it was apparent that his training with LYNX paid off because MEZA seemed just one step ahead of the pro-wrestling savant “Genius” Himura, as MEZA kept the Japanese fighter on the ground while fishing for numerous submission holds, such as triangle chokes and armbars, but never quite landing. After both men got to their feet, applause from the fans caused both to tag in their elder statesmen.

The more deliberate and slow-paced approach did not disappoint a battle of chops to the chest ultimately found Thunder Mask prevailing and then hitting a fisherman’s suplex hold for a two-count to nearly obtain the win, but LYNX managed to kick out at the last second. It seemed for much of their encounter that Thunder Mask had the edge, working in judo throws and grounded headlocks to gas his fellow veteran. In fact, after ducking a chop from Thunder Mask he managed to pick up the Cruiser God with a German suplex hold, but alas another two-count!

The action would pick up the younger fighters would alternate in periodically, but it soon became clear that the offense Thunder Mask and Himura were a bit too much for the Pollo Road superstars. Following a release Dragon suplex, Himura would then hit a Northern Lights buster on MEZA and would have picked up the victory had not LYNX intervened to break it up and use up their one save on the evening!

At this point MEZA was in dire straits as Thunder Mask went to work and seated his opponent on the top rope to go for an avalanche-style brainbuster! The crowd got to their feet, but the cagey MEZA managed to avoid it and sunset flip over the Cruiser God and powerbomb him from the turnbuckle and tag in LYNX!

LYNX tried to lock in the Old Boy on a dazed Thunder Mask, but it seemed that the Cruiser God had a lot more in the tank than at first blush when he rolled out of it and hit a shining enzuigiri to a LYNX who was still down on one knee and then tagged in a fresh Himura, who rushed in with a flying elbow smash but only got a two-count as the fans clapped and a tugboat in the distance bellowed its horn from the sea to indicate a show of support.

Himura clinched a fist in excitement as he stood LYNX up to his feet. The elder statesmen got in a surprise elbow shot to Himura’s face and then rolled out of the ring. And as soon as his feet his the floor, MEZA springboarded from behind off the top rope onto Himura’s back and twisted the Japanese fighter down to the mat to hit the Humble Beginnings and go for the 1-2-3 to advance in the tournament! It was a bewilderingly fast and exciting finish as MEZA and LYNX celebrated in the ring, giving a brief strategy debrief using the Jr. Heavyweight tag titles’ rules on sliding out of the ring to tag in your partner to their advantage.

Following the match, Thunder Mask and a sore Himura confronted the Pollo Road duo and shook their hands in a scene of good sportsmanship that contrasted with earlier events. Even with a language barrier, Thunder Mask and LYNX seemed like two old men sitting at the park while LYNX and Himura, who incidentally is fluent in five languages (once of which being English) excitedly talked about how to execute athletic maneuvers as the four all walked from the ring.

And of course the last match of the day, in the main event, featured Demon Lord ZENKI – whose presence ad already been felt earlier – teaming with Shigeru Toyama versus World Cruiserweight Champion Pollo Dorado II and Orville Newton, the latter having spent last night in the hospital after being essentially mutilated by the Demon Lord.

Orville demanded to start the match and even pointed to ZENKI, calling him out in anger as a murmur went through the crowd. ZENKI would pause a moment for contemplation and then smacked Toyama on the shoulder and let Starboy take the lead. The two fighters got off to a quickstart with Toyama nearly ending the match early with an armbar, but Newton got to the ropes. It was clear from the get-go that Newton was struggling and eventually acquiesced to Pollo Dorado II’s insistence that make the tag.

At this juncture, we would see the World Cruiserweight Champion step in and show his teammate how it was done with a blistering array of kicks and throws that would have Starboy on his back, butt, landing on his head, and eventually shoved back into his own corner with Pollo Dorado II having not even broken a sweat and demanding that ZENKI be tagged in! Toyama glanced over at his teammate who nodded with approval and the fans immediately stood up to their feet in anticipation.

The two men stood and trash-talked one another in different languages as the fans also let their presence be known. ZENKI’s popularity as a nationalist hero was evident, though there were a number of fans trying to get a “DO-RA-DO” chant going as well. It was the percussive applause of the fans that eventually stimulated the two wrestlers into action, tying another up in the center of the ring with ZENKI eventually using his incredible lower body strength to push Dorado into a corner and then knee him in the gut in succession. Dorado would drop to a knee, but use it as a moment to leg sweep ZENKI and then climb atop him in the mount. The two struggle on the ground for a time with Dorado attempt a kimura, but ZENKI managing to twist and wriggle his way out.

Not only were the fans on their feet, but even the respective wrestlers from under each tent were up and watching intently the action in the ring. ZENKI and Pollo Dorado continued on in an even manner until ZENKI went for a German suplex but Pollo Dorado II flipped it into his own and got a two-count! Dorado went on the offensive, with a blistering array of attempts at a submission, ultimately leading ZENKI to tag in Toyama, who would leap into the ring and put down Dorado II with a missile dropkick!




CRUISERWORLD! – Day 2
Date: 7/8/2023
Location: Shirahama Beach, Tokyo, Japan