I just arrived back home in Finland from a very successful tour of Japan, where I wrestled a heated grudge match against Michael Kovac of Austria at SMASH.12, and a brutal hardcore match against Mexico’s Super Crazy at SMASH.13 in Tokyo on January 29.  On Sunday, January 30 in Osaka, I tagged up with my star protege Hajime Ohara to defeat the stellar team of Akira Nogami and “The Japanese Buzzsaw” Tajiri.

The press was out in force, covering all of the SMASH events, and the company sent me out to promote the upcoming matches at Samurai TV on Friday night, before the double-header SMASH.12 & 13 cards.  Serena Deeb (formerly of WWE, who was part of C.M. Punk‘s Straight Edge Society) was also sent out alongside myself to do PR for the shows, and proved to be a real sweetheart of a lass.

Speaking of Kovac and SMASH.12, we had one hell of a stiff bout, where my knuckles were swollen post-match after the altercation.  Kovac is a time-tested pro, and all things considered, after he left me laying following SMASH.10 at JCB Hall in November 2010, he knew the reckoning was coming.  Kovac pinned me after a sneaky low-blow as I re-entered the ring, after battering his carcass around ringside.  We sure didn’t fail to live up to expectations, as I dare say a lot of folks began believing in pro wrestling again after that match.  Akira Nogami told me that a friend of his in the audience said our combat reminded him of the early days of Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody in Japan, and that is mighty high praise for anyone in the know.

Planting Michael Kovac at SMASH.12 with a face-buster, photo by Aya Takada

My match against former ECW/WWE superstar Super Crazy was a wild one as well, where we literally beat the snot out of each other, gaining a whole new level of respect in the process for one another.  Crazy put me through a wall, literally breaking the wall, as I came up bleeding.  We brawled all around the Shinjuku FACE venue to the rabid applause of the fans on hand, before I dropped the Luchadore with my spike piledriver on two chairs in the ring to finish the match.  SMASH president Mr. Sakai blogged about this match online, so find yourself a translator or just enjoy the photos HERE.

In notable news from SMASH.13, Michael Kovac dethroned Tajiri to become the new FCF Finnish Wrestling Champion.  Truth be told, we should re-christen the FCF Championship as the FCF World Championship, since as of SMASH.13, our title belt has changed hands four times in the Land of the Rising Sun, with one Japanese champion and one Austrian champion in the history annals of FCF’s Championship history (plus count in Erik Isaksen of Norway as FCF Champ from 2007).  Kovac beat down Tajiri after his win, and I interjected myself, superkicking Kovac out of the ring to rapturous applause.  I then proceeded to piledrive Tajiri for taking the FCF Title away from me at JCB, and as I was about to piledrive Tajiri for a second time, Takao Omori (All-Japan, ZERO-1) made the save.  The heat was off the charts as I had a tentative stare-off with Omori following that deal, setting up Omori vs. StarBuck for SMASH.14 on February 25.

In Osaka, I wrestled THE tag team match of my career to this date in history, as I would go on to gain some measure of retribution against Tajiri for my FCF Title loss, pinning him following my signature spike piledriver.  The psychology, teamwork and execution of that tag match between Tajiri/Nogami and Ohara/myself was spot-on.  Never have I enjoyed a tag team match as thoroughly as I enjoyed that outing in Osaka on February 30, and the fans on hand made it extra special, really popping for us.

Once again, I can only thank God for the great success that I have enjoyed in the promised land of pro wrestling, Japan.  I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.  Soudesune!