Arriving home today from participating in the opening round of the WNC (Wrestling New Classic) title tournament this past Friday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, I have to admit that I am feeling battered and bruised.  I fought a very violent, spirited match against my former FCF teammate Hajime Ohara, a brawl in which he managed to blacken my left eye socket, only to see me lose the match, thanks to the chicanery from his DQN contingent members.

I have faced Ohara on several occasions prior to this tournament match this past weekend, and in every encounter that we have had in the 2+ years prior to this encounter, I have soundly defeated my former protege every time, with my famous jumping spike piledriver.  This match was no different, up until the end, when I piledrove Ohara for the seeming victory once again.  However, this time his new team members Jiro Kuroshio and Nagisa Nozaki interjected themselves at the moment of the pin, causing the referee to become engaged with their antics.  Ohara was able to come around and shake the cobwebs off enough to hit me with a low blow behind the ref’s back, and then nail me with a loaded forearm strike to the throat for the tainted win.

The last time I was in Japan prior to this trip, my SYNAPSE teammate AKIRA took me to a special physical trainer for pro wrestlers named Mr. Kenji Ohkido.  I have now gone to Mr. Ohkido about four times, and I plan on making an excursion to his offices whenever I visit Japan, as Mr. Ohkido knows exactly what kinds of duress and physical challenges pro wrestlers’ bodies undergo, due to his extensive experience in treating fighters over the years.  For anyone visiting Tokyo or living in the area, be sure to visit his establishment and get your torso lined back into shape.

I was able to visit a few extremely cool restaurants with various friends on this trip to Tokyo.  All of them bear mention, so I will start with the excellent Stomach Hold yakitori (chicken) restaurant, run by famous former PRIDE Fighting Championships and Pro Wrestling NOAH grappler, Yoshihiro Takayama.  Takayama-san is a truly nice gentleman to boot, and my good friend Dr. Hiroaki Terasaki often takes me to Stomach Hold to eat when I visit Japan.

Another tremendous place to eat was named Hong Kong, run by Japanese wrestling pioneer Rikidozan’s (RIP) former personal chef, Mr. Masanobu Takanashi.  Dr. Terasaki took me, AKIRA and All-Japan GAORA champion Sanada to eat at Hong Kong, and the food was off the charts awesome!  The food at Hong Kong was traditional Japanese cuisine, and I highly recommend checking out the video below about the owner and the establishment.

Last but not least, a couple of my female fans named Mayumi and Atsuko took me to eat at a small but superb sushi establishment, named Shin-Zushi, in a quiet neighborhood of Tokyo last night.  I have never enjoyed such mouth-watering, fresh sushi in my life!  I am talking about tastes that would make anyone’s sensory overdrive explode!  Just amazing sushi, done right by a master chef who knows his piece of business.

I should also mention that our SYNAPSE team logo was created by the famous Manga cartoon writer behind the super-popular Cobra comic in Japan, Mr. Terasawa Buichi.

My special fan Mayumi also took me to see the world-famous Senso-Ji Asakusa temple in Tokyo.  The place is a major tourist attraction, and I also found a very cool shop next to the temple called Caricature Japan, where artist Itsumi Nakabachi drew up a cartoon portrait of Yours Truly as a special memoir.

I would like to wish my SYNAPSE team members Syuri and AKIRA the best of luck in the WNC title tournament, as they vie for the women’s and men’s championships respectively, moving on to round two — the semi-finals — next month.  On October 26, Syuri defeated Lin Byron to advance to round two in her division and AKIRA defeated Adam Angel to advance.

For anyone who does not know, Syuri is also a kickboxer, and she will be competing in the next KRUSH event in Japan once again next month.  In her last KRUSH match, Syuri downed her competition via knockout in the second round.