Bang! Pro Wrestling Presents The Sekai Saikyō Cup: Quarter-Finals!

We’ve only got eight men and women left in the Sekai Saikyō Cup, and we’re ready to Bang! in Kyoto! Tonight, four people are heading home, while four will have five days to prepare for a war in Osaka! Who will take the next step towards

APRIL 5^th, 2023: SEKAI SAIKYOU CUP, QUARTER-FINALS, KYOTO

• Roosevelt Black def. Hiro Taguchi @ 8:19 by pinfall with a triple jump moonsault
• The New World Trash (Bex Savage & Angel Quinley) & The Wanderer def. Junpei Tsukioka, Saburou Tanaka & Cowabunga Kenji @ 13:08 after the Eternal Sunrise (shooting star double stomp) from Quinley to Tsukioka
• Intelligent Design (“Stunning” Sam Smart & “Thick Walls” Wally Wallace) def. “Don of the Deathmatch” Rory Hayes & “Stuntman” Timmy Lester @ 9:51 after the Cosmic Debunking (throwing crucifix bomb into a neckbreaker) from Smart & Wallace to Lester
• Saikyō Cup, Quarter-Finals: Claire Merci def. Garry “Ray-Ray” Nelson @ 19:17 by submission after the Royal Hanging Garden Stretch (octopus hold)
• Saikyō Cup, Quarter-Finals: “Lunch Lawyer” Lord Gavin Yum, Esq. def. “Hawkeye” Taka Sakaragi @ 24:16 by pinfall after a low blow and a small package
• Saikyō Cup, Quarter-Finals: “The Crownless King” Coral Avalon def. Pom Shinjoku @ 25:16 by pinfall after Excalibur (sitout double underhook piledriver)
• Saikyō Cup, Quarter-Finals: “The Godslayer” Akira Hanazawa def. Anna Daniels @ 18:21 by pinfall after the Ragnarok Driver (Argentine backbreaker rack into piledriver)

After some early action with Roosevelt Black picking up another win and the New World Trash getting a drifter to help them take down the former Kazuyagumi, maybe the biggest development in the undercard is that the team of Sam Smart and Wally Wallace have settled on a team name – “Intelligent Design”. And, well, that’s pretty questionable! The Smart/Wallace tandem were able to endure the insane antics of Rory Hayes and Timmy Lester long enough to hit the Cosmic Debunking, a combination of Smart’s Smart Bomb and a neckbreaker, to pick up the win!

Hayes chased Timmy Lester on the Homicycle after the match, catching up with him just as they went backstage. Lester’s agonized screams could be heard well into the next match.

Haunting.

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The first of the quarter-final matches took place between the “queen” of the Crownless Kingdom, Claire Merci, and the dark horse scion of the Bolamba family name, Garry “Ray-Ray” Nelson! (Or is it Bolamba?) Nelson, who’s already made a name for himself as an unexpected wildcard in tournament action during the Belmont Classic just a few months ago, made Claire Merci’s life very interesting with his long limbs and frying pans for hands! Merci used her speed and technical acumen to stay out of slapping range, but things took a turn when Nelsolamba hit her with a slap hard enough to send the Merciless Queen into a full retreat!

However, Merci’s experience and ability to hit hard herself allowed her to battle back, and she countered the Blood on the Plow with a hard elbow of her own. She had a hard time locking Nelson’s arms up for the Royal Butterfly Suplex afterwards due to the height difference, to the point that Nelson was able to break the full nelson and strike a glancing blow with the Blood on the Plow!

However, since it was just a glancing blow, Merci was only staggered by elbow, and when Nelson followed with a second, Merci ducked it and suddenly ensnared the slap fighter in the Royal Hanging Garden Stretch! Nelson fought it, and nearly made it to the ropes before Merci began using joint manipulation on Nelson’s left arm, which put him in enough pain that he collapsed to the canvas and was forced to submit!

Merci looked a little worse for wear after this one, and might have more than a few things to say about the matter if her entire post-match interview wasn’t a middle finger and a disapproving look all the way to the locker room!

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The next contest pitted the silly, yet dangerous “Lunch Lawyer” of the Crownless Kingdom, Lord Gavin Yum, Esq., against the serious, yet dangerous “Hawkeye” Taka Sakaragi! Yum clearly wanted as little to do with Sakaragi’s dangerous strikes, as he dodged around and frustrated the hotheaded young man before trying to take him down with some English technical wrestling.

Sakaragi eventually fought back and scored some huge blows on the Englishman, kicking him to almost death in the corner until referee “Hot Pants” Shiraishi was able to create space. Of course, that led to Yum poking Sakaragi in the eye, throwing him out of the ring, and then ramming him into things for the better part of three minutes. Towards the end of this, Yum actually lifted up the protective padding on the outside and attempted to land the Galatine Driver, only for Sakaragi to over-rotate and counter into a DDT. The only reason this doesn’t get the win is because Yum gets a hand on his rope on the count of two.

From here, Sakaragi continued to brutally beat down Yum, much like he had a lot of his other opponents, peppering him with kicks. However, when he attempted the Iron Sight to finish things, Yum suddenly pulled Sakaragi backwards into Shiraishi, stunning the referee long enough for Yum to land a low blow and then a small package for the upset win!

Sakaragi was furious after this, and spent a large amount of time trashing the ringside area and trying to get his hands on Shiraishi after Yum fled the ringside area to escape his wrath. He was utterly blindsided, then, when Bang! Conception Champion Riko Tsukino attacked him before Sakaragi could assault either man. Referees and officials had to separate the two, with Riko screaming like a banshee about how much she wanted to beat the living daylights out of Sakaragi! This appears to all be coming to a head soon!

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The next match was between two legends of the Japanese wrestling scene!

Pom Shinjoku made her name fighting in deathmatches all across Japan before the unfortunate accident that took her eye. Her opponent, Coral Avalon, made his name in Bang! Pro Wrestling as the incomparable focal point of the Crownless Kingdom, possibly the most popular gaijin faction in Japan. Moreover, this is actually their first time meeting one another in the ring!

The match started hot and fast, with Shinjoku threatening to take Avalon’s head off with a kick only for Avalon to narrowly miss the Rhongomyniad in return. The match turned on its head when Shinjoku low bridged Avalon out of the ring and then hit him with a somersault senton from the apron to the floor, followed by busting him open on the ring steps.

Blood was not a new experience for either wrestler though, and Avalon battled back against his one-eyed opponent. Shinjoku nearly caught Avalon with the Great Wave after he missed a Rhongomyniad in the corner, but Avalon turned it into a cutter as the roll was being completed! Yet, when Avalon went up for the Carnwennan, it was Shinjoku’s turn to strike as she moved and then caught Avalon with a belly-to-belly suplex into the corner when he rolled and charged her! The bloodied King blocked the second attempt at the Great Wave and caught Shinjoku with several elbows to make her back off.

The end of the match came when Shinjoku landed a spin kick that hit Avalon’s off-switch, and once again went for the Great Wave. Instead, Avalon used a last gasp to hit an unexpected Pele kick that rocked Shinjoku long enough for the Camelot’s Turntable, followed by Excalibur to pick up the win!

Avalon was nothing but respectful to Shinjoku in his brief remarks to reporters, noting that he got lucky that pulling out a move he hadn’t done in several years (the Pele kick) was enough to pull out the win. He also notes that he will definitely not be 100% going into his match with his protégé, Claire Merci, on the 10^th. After all, his victory has ensured that his schedule for the week is going to be hectic!

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Time Lord. Godslayer.

Akira Hanazawa is the boogeyman of Bang! Pro Wrestling. Only a handful of individuals in the company have slowed the Godslayer down, and even fewer have ever defeated him. Yet the indomitable Time Lord, Anna Daniels, is not someone the least bit terrified of the monstrous beast. Maybe she’s fought worse, I don’t know! In any case, the main event of the evening pit these two colossuses (colossi?) if not in stature than in deed against one another!

Yet, the Godslayer was coming into this match battered after the contest with Powerslam Anubis just four days ago, and Daniels was able to take an early advantage by harrying him with Muay Thai-styled kicks that rippled across Hanazawa’s bulk. Hanazawa was even forced to retreat to the outside, something that made him throw things while he was out there. Daniels eventually followed him outside and continued to harass him with strikes. She even picked up a chair and smashed it across Hanazawa’s leg, something that notoriously lax referee Ryuunosuke Doi gave her only a light warning about.

Back in the ring, Daniels continued to batter the Godslayer’s leg with more kicks. However, Hanazawa would turn the tables when Daniels threw one too many kicks. An attempt at the Interrobang was caught and turned into a capture suplex and then a fallaway slam in quick succession. While Hanazawa was clearly hobbled, his incredible strength still allowed him to throw Daniels around the ring until she found her way outside again.

There, Hanazawa made a crucial mistake, when he charged on Daniels for the God’s Shattering Star lariat. Instead, Daniels avoided it and Hanazawa’s knees rammed into the steel steps! Back inside, Daniels managed to land the Interrobang and it gets two only because Hanazawa was too close to the ropes!

Daniels actually made an attempt at the Oncoming Storm after that, but Hanazawa’s weight and strength prevented her from landing it even when she battered him with knee strikes while she had the arms in the butterfly position. Eventually, Hanazawa broke out. She opted instead for another Interrobang, but Hanazawa blocked it and landed the God’s Shattering Star across the back of Daniels’ head! A Ragnarok Driver later, and Akira Hanazawa had somehow managed to outlast the Time Lord!

Hanazawa has had a rough tournament since his match with Powerslam Anubis, and it showed in how wounded he seemed to be following this match. With the devious Lord Gavin Yum, Esq. on the horizon, is this as far as the Godslayer will be able to go?

Karen Nakano
RingDispatch.com