This past weekend in Hollabrunn, Austria on Saturday, Sept. 10, I fought a game fight against the challenger for my TopCatch European Championship, Michael Kovac.  Kovac is the man that I originally defeated for the vacant title on May 14 of this year in Wismar, Germany, and this past Saturday was his chosen date for the championship rematch in his own country.

I have fought Kovac many times over the years, and I dare say that we both represent the best that Europe has to offer these days, both being Top 10 continental talents in our genre.  Over the years, I have fought Kovac in countries like Japan, Finland, Germany and Poland in addition to this latest encounter in Austria.  Our matches have always been classics, and we most definitely match up well as a dueling pair.

This weekend in Hollabrunn, Kovac took it to me like never before, with a refined assault that caused much headache for me as the defending European Champion for the oldest office in Europe today, VDB Catch.  The physical war came to a crucial turning point when  somewhere around the 15-minute mark of the contest, Kovac attempted to hit me with his high-cross faceplant, which he calls the Kovacrusher.  I fought my way out of his grip, sliding down his back awkwardly due to the excessive sweat that we both were raining out at that point in the bout.  Due to the poor and disadvantageous positioning of the way that I came down, I twisted and sprained my right ankle upon landing.  I attempted a desperation superkick soon after, which just did not have the impact to do away Kovac, and after a brief albeit unsuccessful last rally, Kovac caught me with a top rope powerslam and then a top rope splash for the finishing pinfall to become the new European Champion after over 20 minutes of heavy action.

However, just two days earlier in Tokyo, I defeated Mexico’s Veneno in the semi-finals of the SMASH Title tournament to advance to the finals next month, where I will face Tajiri at SMASH.22 on Oct. 28.  This past Thursday night at SMASH.21 in Tokyo, Tajiri defeated Akira Nogami to advance in the tournament to the finals next month also.

I defeated Veneno after kicking out of his top rope back splash senton, which damn near crushed my ribcage as he landed full-tilt on my chest cavity, which for a moment had me thinking I had busted ribs.  I capitalized moments later and superkicked Veneno as he attempted a chop to the head off the second rope, and then I piledrove him mercilessly through the mat for the win after about 12 minutes of intense action.

As it stands, we have come full-circle from SMASH.10 last November to SMASH.22 and the SMASH Title tournament finals next month, with Tajiri vs. StarBuck once again taking center stage.