Bang! Pro Wrestling Presents The Sekai Saikyō Cup: Second Round, Part 3!

Eight have advanced, and eight more are left to go! It’s time to Bang! in Chiba with the Sekai Saikyō Cup!

MARCH 28^th, 2023: SEKAI SAIKYOU CUP, SECOND ROUND, CHIBA, NIGHT 1

• The Kazuyagumi (“The Ace of Hearts” Kazuya Fukumaru & Pom Shinjoku) def. “President” Roosevelt Black & Hiro Taguchi @ 9:01 after a Kanabo (discus elbow) from Fukumaru to Taguchi
• “Stunning” Sam Smart & “Thick Walls” Wally Wallace def. The Fabulous Hentai Brothers (Michael & Matthew) @ 9:01 by pinfall after a Smart Bomb (throwing crucifix powerbomb) from Smart to Michael
• Saikyō Cup, Second Round: The Wanderer def. “The Venetian Assassin” Franco Marchesi @ 2:09 by ref stoppage
• The Crownless Kingdom (“The Crownless King” Coral Avalon, Ignacio el Jaguar & “Lunch Lawyer” Lord Gavin Yum, Esq.) def. Saburou Tanaka, Junpei Tsukioka, & Cowabunga Kenji @ 16:04 after a Galatine Driver (inverted Michinoku driver) from Yum to Kenji
• Saikyō Cup, Second Round: Claire Merci def. Angel Quinley @ 21:06 by pinfall with the Royal Butterfly Suplex (dragon suplex)
• Saikyō Cup, Second Round: Anna Daniels def. KAPPA @ 14:58 by pinfall with the Interrobang (Brazilian kick)
• Saikyō Cup, Second Round: Garry “Ray-Ray” Bolamba def. “Ace of Clubs” Haruki Kazano @ 19:16 by pinfall with the Blood on the Plow (roaring elbow)

Ahead of their second round match, Pom Shinjoku and Roosevelt Black – now going by “President” Roosevelt Black according to some notes that Mr. Nackedy sent our office ahead of Black’s entry into the Saikyō Cup – were in tag team action! Fukumaru and Shinjoku teamed up as well as they usually do, while Black held his own against the Ace of Hearts and the one-eyed Kanagawa native! The numbers game looked to overwhelm, so Black tagged to Taguchi who tried his damnedest to overcome Fukumaru while Black and Shinjoku brawled on the outside. In the end, though, a Kanabo put Taguchi’s lights out for the Kazuyagumi victory.

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Smart and Wallace have started to put things together in Bang! after spending their first three months barely scraping by, and they may actually pose a threat in the Partners division after the effort the pair put into defeating the Fabulous Hentai Brothers! After a quick sprint, Smart put away Michael with the Smart Bomb to pick up the win for his team.

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I regret to say that an extremely unfortunate event kicked off this set of second round matches, when former Openweight champion Franco Marchesi landed wrong off of a leapfrog early in the match with the Wanderer and came up clutching his right knee. Early prognosis on the injury suggests that it isn’t good. Marchesi, who already had problems with his knees dating back to his unsuccessful defense of the Openweight Championship against the Godslayer three years ago, was forced to forfeit the match after the referee stoppage, giving the Wanderer a ticket to the round of 16.

Reporters couldn’t get in touch with the “Walkin’ Dude” after the match, he seemed to just, uh… wander off on his own while doctors tried to get the writhing Marchesi out of the ring.

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As a result of how fast the match ended, a decision was made to book a match with the two international halves of the Crownless Kingdom teaming together to take on the ex-Kazuyagumi tandem of Junpei Tsukioka, Saburou Tanaka, and Cowabunga Kenji! Avalon’s history with Lord Gavin Yum, Esq. and Powerslam Anubis is well-known by now, and the trio worked surprisingly well together… even if Avalon sometimes vocally objected at Yum’s cheating. Despite the down mood of the Kingdom for most of the match as a result of Marchesi’s injury, they were able to rally. After Anubis delivered a ring-shaking Scales of Dominion to get rid of Tanaka, both Avalon and Yum delivered an Excalibur and a Galatine Driver respectfully to Tsukioka and Kenji to pick up the victory.

Watching the match from the entryway was Avalon’s second round opponent, Sin Cordura, who declined to get face-to-face with him while Anubis and Yum were around. Cordura did not speak to reporters afterwards.

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Claire Merci, the Bang! Hardweight champion, went toe-to-toe with the quicker, nigh-suicidal Angel Quinley in one-on-one action. Merci might have underestimated Quinley for this one, as the quicker Quinley made several attacks that clearly showed that she wasn’t planning about the state of her body had she made it to the round of 16! This put Merci on the back foot for match of the match, as for a long time, she couldn’t even catch Quinley. Unfortunately for her, when Merci did catch her, it wasn’t long before she was suplexing her from pillar to post. Quinley mounted a comeback, but an attempted at the Eternal Sunrise missed, and though she landed on her feet, Merci struck her down with the Royal Butterfly Suplex and then hit her with a second one to put her down for the three count.

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Anna Daniels, the Time Lord from PRIME paying Bang! Pro Wrestling another visit after her special attraction matches back in January, went one-on-one with the colossal KAPPA! The match did not exactly go Daniels’ way early on thanks to the sheer size differential, but the dangerous Daniels whittled him down with a combination of high flying and striking. KAPPA nearly took the match with a corner splash and leg drop, but Daniels kicked out. Eventually, multiple strikes to KAPPA’s knee took the big man to size long enough for Daniels to land the Interrobang, which was enough to get the win!

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Finally, in something of a mismatch on paper, slap fighting champion Garry “Ray Ray” Nelson (Bolamba?) went one-on-one with Haruki Kazano in a big ‘ol hoss fight that looked more like an episode of Power Slap than it did a wrestling match. Kazano was game to try and beat the taller Nelson at his own game, and the two exchanges back-and-forth slaps before Kazano got fed up and started using suplexes instead. Garry, for his part, loudly exclaimed that he should be declared the winner while he was being suplexed.

At the end of the match, Kazano went for his patented Higekiri DDT, only for Garry to bulldoze him into the corner. Another strike exchange ensued that Kazano got the better of, only for Garry to land the Blood on the Plow elbow and fall on top of Kazano for the win!

It’s a huge win for Garry “Ray-Ray” Bolamba, who moves to the round of 16 with the win! Kazano, who has never particularly done well in the Sekai Saikyō Cup despite his credentials, seemed disappointed with how the match played out, but shook hands with Nelson after the match was over.