I’m very excited about wrestling in Holland in two weeks time, which marks my 19th country in the grappling game. More importantly, it marks my comeuppance against reigning Eurostars European wrestling champion and WNC champion, Bernard Vandamme of Belgium.
It was just this past March 8 in Helsinki, Finland, that I unceremoniously lost Japan’s WNC (Wrestling New Classic) title to Vandamme in just under two-minutes, in what can be argued to be a huge upset. It made international headlines and it most definitely shocked every fan on hand at FCF Wrestling’s Talvisota VIII event that night. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, and for a moment, I thought I’d be getting my rematch for the WNC strap when I first heard about Dutch Pro Wrestling booking Vandamme as my opponent for June 1 on their biggest show of the year in Poeldijk, Holland.
However, being that I am a former two-time Eurostars European champion myself, defeating and losing that championship to Vandamme in 2006-2007 and 2009, the Eurostars wrestling office decided it was time for StarBuck to get another shot at continental supremacy in Poeldijk at DPW’s Grandslam 2014 mega-event. This decision overrode Japan’s WNC organization’s rematch clause, and so, the June 1 match will be for the Eurostars title only, regardless of the fact that Vandamme is a double-champion at the moment.
December 2, 2006 – the night I first defeated Vandamme for the Eurostars title in Vantaa, Finland
Personally speaking, I am highly looking forward to this showdown. Vandamme and I have a long and storied history, going back to 2006, when we first locked horns. We have had a tenacious feud, one that has spanned from west to east, from Europe to Asia, and like the proverbial thorn in my side, Vandamme is still prevalent as an adversary in my career eight years later.
I will be more than ready to strip Vandamme of his Eurostars European title on June 1, just as he stripped me of the WNC gold a few months back. I will walk into Grandslam 2014 and let loose the full measure of my personal vindication and wrath on the person of Bernard Vandamme, and I will walk out of Poeldijk as the new Eurostars champion.
How’s that for “an eye for an eye”, Bernard? Deal with it!
starbuck.fi 
The end of WNC
Posted: June 19, 2014 in Life, Professional Wrestling, Social commentary, TravelTags: Akira Nogami, Keiji Mutoh, Pro Wrestling, puroresu, StarBuck, Syuri Kondou, Tajiri, WNC, Wrestle-1, Wrestling New Classic
When you look back on the best times and highlights of your life, one tends to wax emotional.
Yesterday, the Japanese sporting press announced the end of WNC (Wrestling New Classic) and its merger with Keiji Mutoh’s Wrestle-1 organization. From WNC’s roster, Tajiri, Akira Nogami, Rionne Fujiwara, Yusuke Kodama, Koji Doi and Jiro Kuroshio join the Wrestle-1 roster. Everyone else becomes a free agent. I was the second last champion for WNC (Bernard Vandamme of Belgium is the current and final titleholder), and was with the company since its inception in April 2012.
Yours Truly as WNC champion (photo by Marko Simonen)
Time for a reality check. We are living in hard times, and it honestly doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier, globally speaking. The rich keep getting richer, those with less are losing even that which they have, and the the big are eating up the small. Mergers are the business word of the day, be it Time-Warner or Microsoft swallowing up Nokia. At the end of it all, it all boils down to money; those who have it and those who don’t. The financial crunch that has burdened much of the world over the past several years certainly isn’t helping.
When I look back on my time with WNC, I reminisce with fondness. I made a friend, a great friend, in Akira Nogami. Along with Akira and Japanese kickboxing and multiple-time women’s pro wrestling champion Syuri Kondou, I was part of the coolest rebel unit to hit Japan in ages in Synapse. We wrecked havoc, took names and kicked volumes of ass. I still fondly recall my first teaming with Akira and Syuri against Tajiri, Hajime Ohara and Kana back in on August 2, 2012 in Tokyo. It was a hard-hitting, feisty brawl from start to finish, and during the melee, Tajiri kicked one of my front teeth out. Battle scars, medals of honor. No hard feelings, of course, just business as usual in the modern day arena of the gladiators. It was Tajiri’s sister’s dental office in southern Kagoshima, that even fixed my missing lego at the end of that tour. I remember the barbed wire matches that Synapse had with Tajiri, Kana and Mikey Whipwreck … matches that definitely had you on the edge of your seat, as everyone tried their damndest to keep from being mangled by the barbed wire sticking out of the boards in the corners of the ring. I recall the outings against various three-opponent trifectas around Japan, all of whom we put down and convincingly so. Then, as my last, great memory from my time with WNC, I remember February 27 of this year, when I beat Tajiri himself for the WNC championship title in Tokyo in one of the hardest slobberknocking matches of my career.
The first ever teaming of Synapse (all photos by WNC)
I want to publicly thank WNC and especially main man Tajiri himself for giving me the golden opportunity to wrestle for their company over the past couple of years that they were in existence. It has been a hell of a ride. Thank you Akira, my brother, for your friendship. Thank you Syuri, for your warm smiles. Thank you Yusuke Kodama, Rionne Fujiwara, Nozomu Matsuzawa and all of the young boys and girls of the WNC roster.
Once again, the words of King Solomon from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 come to pass:
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”
So desu ne!!!