Another month, another edition of SMASH bringing variety and color to the wrestling world. This edition featured the crowning of the first ever SMASH men’s Champion, a #1 contender’s match to determine the first challenger for Kana’s Women’s title, and the next chapters in the love/hate stories of Kito/Mio and Kovac/Bairon.

Photos Courtesy: DDS Staff Member @aoikougei (a5, 1-55), SportsNavi (56-171), , @youji4876 (a1, a6,  172-215), @MakoReco (a2-4, 216-336).

October 28th, 2011
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1,550 Attendance

1. World Tryout Match: AKIRA defeated Sugar Dunkerton with the Musasabi Press at 7:29
2. YO-HEY defeated Hajime Ohara with the Dragon Fly at 4:31
3. Handicap Tag Match: Keizo Matsuda & Katsumi Hirano defeated Takuya Kito with a Lariat from Matsuda at 5:11
4. 4 Way #1 Contender Elimination Match: Tomoka Nakagawa defated Syuri, Ray, and Makoto for a shot at the SMASH Women’s Title at 5:24
5. Genichiro Tenryu & Yusuke Kodama defeated Michael Kovac and Rob Raw with Diving Crossbody from Kodama to Raw at 8:21
6. Tatsumi Fujinami & Ultimo Dragon defeated Yoshiaki Yago & Kengo Mashimo with a Backslide from Fujinami to Yago at 12:45
7. Kana defeated Aki Shizuku with the Kana Lock at 8:06
8. SMASH Title Tournament Final: Starbuck defeated TAJIRI with a Piledriver to become first SMASH Men’s Champion

Yes, FCF founder Starbuck bested SMASH founder TAJIRI to become the first ever SMASH Champion. As people who read our SMASH.21 recap know, this is not the first time a title has changed hands between the two. Previously it was Starbuck bringing the FCF belt back to Finland after TAJIRI had captured it. No doubt TAJIRI will look for the first opportunity to bring his promotions’ top prize back to Japan, but before he has a chance,Starbuck faces a huge challenge from another European competitor.

Michael Kovac had been dropping hints¹ about the “God of European Wrestling” coming to SMASH. Starbuck had already sent the God of Mexico, VENENO, packing. He’ll no doubt have a bit more trouble with Dave “Fit” Finlay. Yes, the Belfast Bruiser is coming to SMASH and will be the first challenger for the title on November 24th’s SMASH.23. This will surely be a phenomenal match and a tough challenge for Starbuck. It will also keep the SMASH roster from holding their own title for at least another two months.

Sugar Dunkerton finally made his SMASH debut, and managed to get his basketball through customs without raising suspicion. He may have wont he tip off, but SMASH ace AKIRA pulled out the clutch jumping splash to win in the 4th Quarter. Somehow, some way, Hajime Ohara lost to YO-HEY, continuing his skid. Soon, hopefully, he’ll retrieve that swagger he had when he pinned KUSHIDA before his departure to New Japan.

Kito’s latest ploy to win Mio Shirai’s cold, black heart failed miserably. He put himself in a tag match, sans partner, hoping that Mio would run from the commentary booth to his aid. No such luck. Pro-Tip Kito: She has Sadistic in the name of her faction. She’s not capable of empathy. She enjoys both watching and making you suffer. Sort it out.

The death of love continued. Lin “I got your ‘bitch’ right here!” Bairon made her shocking return, low-blowing her former lover Michael Kovac, costing him a match. Kovac and Lin have quite a history and while Kovac hoped to reconcile (after attacking her and driving her away from SMASH for several months), Lin was having none of it. In fact she seemed back to her old, pre-Kovac, pre-bitch self, and was no longer under the suave Austrian’s sway. She wants revenge.

In an, apparently, ultra-high-speed elimination match, Tomoka Nakagawa secured the first shot at Kana’s title by turning back Syuri, Makoto, and Ray. TAJIRI has said that he feels Tomoka is the Best in the World, and I’m sure he’s giddy about the possibility of her taking the title away from his best frienemy. Makoto came out with some cosplay maids, probably from the Maid Cafe she moonlighted at on her birthday. Oh! And Bull Nakano  was ringside to promote her upcoming retirement show on January 8th.

And finally Aki Shizuku made her jump from the backyard to the big league’s in what was reportedly a great non-title match with SMASH Women’s Champion Kana. This was a huge opportunity for Aki since, as we talked about in our exclusive interview with her. she is a relative unknown even to dedicated Joshi followers. To go from obscurity to the semi-main event in Korakuen Hall is a rare opportunity. She made the most of it.

As you can see in the photos the amateur stand-out tossed the champ around with ease in the early going. Even though Kana handpicked Aki as an opponent, she still seem surprised by Aki’s strength and technique. Aki put up a great, impressive fight but could not avoid the inevitable as Kana put her out with the Kana Lock.

This was a non-title match but still an important one for Kana, and especially Aki. It was great of SMASH and Kana to give her this opportunity to showcase her talent to a wide audience. SMASH should be commended for their constant effort to bring fresh blood into the promotion, and Aki deserves a hand for delivering in such a high-pressure situation. Kana even showed Aki an extremely rare post-match sign of respect. As TAJIRI tweeted, “SMASH is where dreams come true,” and Aki’s dream of being one of the top Joshi has officially begun.

And that was SMASH. Enjoy the pictures below the cut, see you next month! And, after that, we’ll be reporting live from SMASH.24 on December 30th at Korakuen Hall. Peace!

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