2013 New Year's Tournament preview.

Greetings AWL faithful!  I know you are chomping at the bit for the new season of the Animated Wrestling League to begin but you must be patient.  After all, if we held the 2013 お正月大会 (Oshougatsu Taikai or “New Year’s Tournament” in English) in December of 2012, that would just be silly, wouldn’t it?

But I do have some good news for you, the AWL Commissioner has decided to release the official first round brackets for the 2013 お正月大会!  These matches were decided via a random lottery (with the exception of the mystery debuting wrestler, who always takes the #16 slot).  Please enjoy and feel free to speculate on who you think will go all the way and who you think got a lousy draw.

First Round Matches:

1. Ganba

2. Dragon

3. Shin Tora

4. Libre

5. Silver Potato

6. Ben Nelson

7. Lucha

8. American Beetle

9. Wolf

10. Tiger Mask

11. Tanaka Kenichi

12. Matt Classic

13. Luke James

14. Hassan

15. Striker

16. ????

There are some intriguing matchups here.  Two former two time AWL World Champions and top level competitors in Ganba and Dragon will meet in the first round.  That’s a main event worthy match in my opinion.

It’s going to be cat vs. dog as Tiger Mask faces the returning Wolf (who hasn’t been seen in the AWL in months).  Tiger Mask is currently staring down the barrel of a pathetic 2-9 losing record over the last two seasons while Wolf is 12-7 over that same time frame.  Tournament matches are not counted in official AWL win-loss records, but if Tiger Mask is going to turn his career around, now would be an excellent time to start.

Last year’s winner, Matt Classic returns to the tournament and will face his polar opposite “THUG LIFE” Tanaka Kenichi in the first round.  No one has ever won back to back tournaments but if anyone could do it, it just might be Matt Classic.

Libre, who put himself on the map with his performance in the 2012 tournament, is looking to improve upon last year and cement himself as a main event level wrestler.  He faces fellow light heavyweight Shin Tora in the first round.

There are also several tag teams represented in this tournament including AWL World Tag Team Champions The All Americans, The Super Tiger Brothers, the former Free Fighters, and Team UK.  Remember, this is a Singles division tournament and it is every man for himself. Will any of the tag teams have to wrestle each other?  Will they be able to?

Speaking of Team UK, Striker has drawn the unfortunate #15 slot and will have no chance to prepare for his mystery opponent.  The #16 mystery man has traditionally done well in the tournament and in the AWL in general.  Last year, Striker himself made his AWL debut and now he’s a former AWL Anarchy Champion and one half of a top tier tag team.  But nobody can top reigning AWL World Champion, Wonder Kid, who made his debut in the mystery slot of the New Year’s Tournament several years ago.  That same Wonder Kid is now sitting atop the mountain of the AWL waiting to see who is prophesied to topple him from his throne.

We will all find out this January when the Animated Wrestling League presents: お正月大会2013!

New Year's Tournament 2013 News.

Good evening wrestling fans!  RyuSensei here with the first news post of the Seasons 2~3 AWL Off Season.  I hope you are enjoying the off season as much as our AWL Wrestlers are.  As always, the AWL Wrestlers are using this time to heal up from various injuries, train themselves (perhaps adding to their arsenals of moves) and generally getting themselves ready for the new season.

Speaking of which, the first event of AWL Season 3, the 2013 New Year's Tournament, is just around the corner.  One of the biggest events of the AWL year, the NYT is a one night, 16 man, single elimination tournament.  The winner receives a 1,000,000 yen prize and becomes the barer of The Prophecy.  The Prophecy that says the New Year's Tournament Winner will hold the AWL World Heavyweight Championship some time in their calender year.

Here now, for the first time anywhere and in no particular order, the 16 wrestlers who will compete for gold and glory:

Ganba

Dragon

Matt Classic

Lucha

Libre

Wolf

Silver Potato

American Beetle

Hassan

Striker

Ben Nelson

Tiger Mask

Shin Tora

Luke James

Tanaka Kenichi

???? (By tradition, the final slot in the tournament is reserved for a debuting AWL wrestler)

AWL 40: Season 2 Finale!

AWL 40 pt 1 投稿者 AWLBoss
AWL 40 pt 2 投稿者 AWLBoss

It's been a long time coming, but we are here!  The last episode of the year.  You all know the card by now so I will only say that the AWL is putting it's best foot forward with 6 matches featuring our top wrestling stars.  All four AWL championships are on the line and some serious personal rivalries will hopefully be settled.  Sit back and enjoy the show!

Now to drop the kayfabe for a minute:

Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who has tuned into this blog (is that even the right way to say that?) and thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their days to watch my little wrestling show.  A few days ago, we passed 1000 page views for this site!!  September, October, and November were each this highest rated months I've ever had.  That might not be a lot  in the grand scheme of the internet, but I know several independent wrestling organizations in several VFW halls and armories around the world that don't have those kind of numbers.

Thanks to all of you, the AWL has become a global franchise.  Ever since the launch of awlwrestling.blogspot.com, we have had views from: USA, Japan, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Sweden, UK, Latvia, South Korea, and Malaysia.

I am deeply humbled and grateful for all of you who enjoy my show.  Rest assured that the third season of the AWL will be on it's way soon.  Season 3 will begin in January with what has become a mighty tradition in this company: The New Year's Tournament.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday, a Happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2013.

RyuSensei aka Ian Carter.

AWL 40 Preview Week: Day 6.

Dragon © vs. Wonder Kid: AWL World Heavyweight Championship Match.

At long last, after a week of posts, we finally get to the main event.  A match for the most important prize in all of animated wrestling and, some would argue, all of professional wrestling, the Animated Wrestling League World Heavyweight Championship!

And it should not be happening.

Because this match already took place.  At AWL 36, the Green Grappler defended his title against the Man Muscle Mountain and WON via pin fall after a top rope Dragon Star Press.  1.  2.  3.  End of story, right?

Wrong.  Wonder Kid did kick out of the cover, but the referee decided that it was too late and awarded the fall, the match, and the championship to Dragon.  Well, less than an hour later and the AWL Commissioner had no less than 30 voicemails, e-mails, faxes, you name it.  All from Yarina, Wonder Kid’s manager, DEMANDING justice.  Well, never one to say no to a lady (or possibly just to shut her up), the Commissioner ordered an examination of the last 5 seconds of the match and . . . it was too close to call.

Naturally, the referee’s decision is sacrosanct in the AWL.  Not even the Commissioner has the authority to override a referee’s ruling.  However, when Yarina heard that she started talking lawsuit and as a result, the Commissioner has done something unheard of in the AWL.  Wonder Kid has been granted a rematch for the world title, without having to work his way back up the Best 4 rankings!

For his part, Dragon has remained mostly silent on this issue.  But hopefully, we will get some answers in this exclusive interview:

              Interviewer: First off Dragon, thank you for agreeing to talk to us today.

              Dragon: No problem.

              Interviewer: I know you are getting ready for your big match tomorrow so I won’t take much of your time.  As you know, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding your AWL World Title right now.  What are your thoughts on this as you head into the main event tomorrow?

              Dragon: Well, all I know is that I heard the referee’s hand slap the mat for the 3^rd time before I felt Wonder Kid’s shoulder leave the ground.  I won that match and I know it.  But, I’ve seen the footage the same as everyone else and I can understand how that finish might look inconclusive.  My normal reaction would be to tell Wonder Kid to grow up.  He lost and that’s it.  I’ve lost title matches before.  Did I whine about it?  No!  I came to work the next week and started climbing the ranks again and now I stand here with 7 kilos of gold around my waist.  Wonder Kid is one amazing fighter, he could do the same thing if he set his mind to it but no, he gets Whatshername to bitch, moan, bully, and threaten his way into a rematch.  Well, I say, “NO WAY!”

              At least, that’s what I want to say.  However, this isn’t about me.  It’s about the championship.  If I ignore this challenge, if I don’t prove that I can beat Wonder Kid fair and square, then it will permanently damage the integrity of the AWL World Title and I have worked too long and too hard not only building this company, but earning back my title to see it tainted by a big, bold, brass, asterisk!

              Interviewer: Wow.  OK.  Do you have anything you’d like to say to your opponent before the match?

              Dragon: Wonder Kid.  You.  Me.  AWL 40.  No excuses, no lawyers, no rematches.  One match to prove the better man and the real champion.  But be careful, when you play with Dragon Fire . . . you will get burned.

              At this point Dragon leaves the interview to resume his pre match training.

We tried to contact Wonder Kid’s camp to give them equal time, but we were told that the challenger could not be disturbed ad did not have a comment at this time.

Well, I’ve said everything that could possibly be said.  All that’s left to do is fight.  Join us tomorrow for AWL 40.

AWL 40 Preview Week: Day 5

Ganba vs. Bubba Reese: Hell in a Cell.

Really, what more can be said about this feud?  It all began at AWL 20, when Ganba defeated Bubba Reese in a Reshuffle Match to not only become #1 contender to the AWL World Title, but to drop Reese down to #4.  Understandably, the Wild Card was not happy about this, but his actions just prior to AWL 21 would take this to a whole new level.  You know what, just watch it for yourselves:

Ganba Reese promo 投稿者 AWLBoss

You may be asking how we at the AWL got our hands on a WWE cage?  Well, remember back during AWL 1, when the Commissioner said that he’d “acquired” several old sets and materials that WWE “no longer had need for?”  Well, amongst that little treasure trove was the old HIAC cage (before they rebuilt the thing to prevent anyone from even thinking about taking the Mick Foley bump again) and that old cage is what shall be used at AWL 40.

Bubba Reese will have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no one to rescue him.  For the first time in a long time he will have to fight like a man, one on one in the ring.  This is why Ganba asked that Reese be released from police custody following the parking lot assault.  This is why Ganba wanted the cage.  This will be the end of things.

By the end of AWL 40, Bubba will probably wish he’d stayed in prison.

AWL 40 Preview Week: Day 4

Super Giant vs. Ma-ji-ku: Anarchy & Light Heavyweight Championships—Title for Title!

BREAKING NEWS:  SUPER GIANT IS A LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT!!

This just in from the private detective agency of Slander & Sons: After being asked to investigate how Super Giant could possibly be in a position to win the AWL Light Heavyweight Championship, they have reported the following findings:

Our investigations have revealed that Super Giant is, in fact, a very short man who might weigh 150 pounds if he were dripping wet and pregnant.  How the hell anyone was fooled by this guy, we have no idea.  Your bill comes to \34,000 plus expenses for a total of \169,000.  Have a nice day.

Please take a moment to compose yourselves.  I’m sure this is as much of a shock to all of you as it is to me.  It turns out that Super Giant has been lying to us all this time.  I mean, he uses the Chokeslam for goodness sake!  How can a non-tall person use a Chokeslam??  I just don’t understand it.

The good news is that, while he lied to US, Super Giant could not lie to the RWS9000 computer that randomly generated the matches and stipulations for the AWL Anarchy Championship.  However, the apparent paradox of data generated when a Title for Title stipulation popped up between the Super Giant and Ma-ji-ku caused a glitch that resulted in the information for the title match being released early.  Therefore, for the first time in AWL history, we know the details of an Anarchy Title match before the match begins!

So what are we looking at here?  Until a few hours ago, I would have called this the biggest David vs. Goliath style mismatch imaginable.  But now?  I don’t know.  Yes, Super Giant is still a powerful fighter and yes, he has had a long reign with a title that is infamously difficult to hang on to, but this is Ma-Ji-Ku we’re talking about here.  Ma-Ji-Ku has held the AWL Light Heavyweight Championship since before AWL 3!  He has one of the best win-loss records in the AWL today (15-3 as of AWL 39, an 83% win percentage, if you were wondering).

With an incredible list of moves like the Endless Light, the Rolling Thunder, the STF, and the Hikari Spiral, it’s hard to imagine him losing, but it is worth pointing out that those three losses of has have all come from matches outside of his weight division.  Super Giant, as we have recently learned, has been fighting out of his weight class for his entire career and has a respectable 8-5 61.5% winning record including several straight victories as Anarchy Champion.  But as we saw with Super Giant losing to Libre a couple of weeks ago, the lucha libre style must not be underestimated and we know the giant is vulnerable. 

At this point, nothing is certain.  Rather appropriate for something called the “Anarchy Championship” don’t you think?  All we know is, at AWL 40, someone is going home as a double champion!

AWL 40 Preview Week: Day 3

Lucha vs. Libre:

Ah good old fashioned sibling rivalry, brother vs. brother, beating the hell out of each other in tight pants and face concealing masks.  Perfectly normal, or was that just my family?  Anyway, at AWL 40, it will be the first one on one match ever between Lucha and Libre in the AWL.

The two brothers came to Japan and the AWL from their native Mexico where they are apparently the sons of a famous family in the world of Mexican pro wrestling aka lucha libre.  I say “apparently” because the only person in the AWL who knows who Libre and Lucha really are is the AWL Commissioner and he isn’t telling.  This is not an attempt by the boss to “work the locker room” but an attempt to respect the privacy of the brothers who, when they signed up, wanted to avoid any nepotism that came along with their name.

When they debuted in the AWL it was as a tag team called “The Free Fighters” a play on the English translations of their pseudonyms.  While never a top tag team, they had some success and even feuded with The Technicos for the AWL World Tag Team Titles. 

But even in the early days, observant viewers saw seeds of what was to come between the bothers.  Libre always embraced the high flying offence and the honorable tactics expected of a technico luchador.  However, his elder brother Lucha was always more ruthless and disrespectful in his wrestling and his attitude, the rudo of the family if you will.

In hindsight, it should come as little surprise that Libre’s success (being hailed as the breakout star of AWL Season 2) caused a burst of jealousy in Lucha.  Lucha became obsessed with proving that his little brother needed his help to win matches.  This resulted in Lucha striking his own brother in the head with a steel chair when Libre refused to let his brother cheat to help him.

In recent weeks, Lucha has debuted a brand new look with black accents on his mask and tights, a new theme song that turns out to be Libre’s theme played backwards, and a new, more intense fighting style including a vicious sling shot leg drop to the neck.  A variation on a move that Libre has never quite mastered.

On the other hand, Libre feels that his big brother has stepped all over the family honor by becoming a rudo (Apparently, they come from a long line of technicos) and he hopes to set Lucha straight through the crucible of combat.

It’s brother versus brother with a metric ton of pride on the line as Lucha and Libre go one on one at AWL 40, this weekend!

Tune in tomorrow, when we will have news that will rock the AWL to its very core.

AWL 40 Preview Week: Day 2

All Americans © vs. Team UK—Tag Team Title Match:

Let us begin today’s preview with good news, American Beetle has been cleared to wrestle!  Not only that, but he has suffered no long term damage from his match last week.  Please remember, unlike some other wrestling organizations, we take the health and safety of our wrestlers very seriously and all AWL competitors are checked out by a doctor before and after each match with additional checks if they are suspected to have sustained an injury.  Failure of any talent to report for a health check results in forfeiture of pay for that day.  Health checks are 100% at company expense.

Moving on, the feud between the All Americans and Team UK has been a war of count out combat.  It all started back during the WWE Trios Tournament.  When the Americans and Brits met in the tournament, it resulted in a count out that earned Team USA 0 points and ensured that they could not win the tournament.  Once the All Americans became tag team champions, their matches with Team UK have been nothing but count out after count out with their most recent bout resulting in American Beetle suffering a concussion after suffering a severe beating by “Big” Ben Nelson, leading to the Patriotic Pugilist’s recently ended injury leave.

At AWL 40 there will be one final confrontation between the two teams.  And when we say final, we mean final.  At AWL 38, The Technicos were named #2 Contender’s to the AWL World Tag Team Titles.  That means that win, lose, or draw, it ends at AWL 40.

Tune in tomorrow as we take a look at the biggest sibling rivalry since the Lee Brothers at the end of Double Dragon, Lucha and Libre.

AWL 40 Preview Week: Day 1

Greetings wrestling fans, this week the AWL is counting down the days to AWL 40 with daily, you heard me, daily blog posts promoting each of the matches on the season finale.  Today, we look at what will be the opening match, Rick Flare’s Open Contract Challenge.

Rick Flare (note the spelling) is, quite frankly a poor rip off of the original Ric Flair.  Same moves, same robe (sort of), same attitude, the works.  He’s been with the AWL for many years and was actually in the very first AWL match on YouTube where he defeated American Beetle.  Since that early success however, his career has floundered.  Rick Flare has never legitimately held a championship in the AWL despite multiple attempts at winning both the Light Heavyweight and Anarchy Titles.  He came close to winning tag team gold back in season one when he joined forces with “The Boxing Bastard” Bruce Hoyt to form a tag team known as “The Best.”  Long story short, they weren’t.  No one is sure why the AWL Commissioner keeps Flare on the payroll but many suspect that the Commissioner still sees potential in Flare.  I have personally heard the boss say that if Flare were to get over himself and start being himself, he’d have “main eventer” written all over him.

After his most recent string of losses, Rick has issued an open challenge to any professional wrestler on or off the AWL roster.  While this is a painfully obvious attempt to force his way onto the card and therefore into a big payday, the AWL Commissioner has agreed to the match because a little surprise is always a good thing when it comes to a big show.

In breaking news, I can announce that the open contract HAS been accepted and (at the request of the challenger) the match will be a No Disqualification Match!  The identity of the challenger is as of yet unknown.  Tune into AWL 40 next weekend and find out who will face the dirtiest player in the video game.  And stay tuned all this week for more news and insight from the Animated Wrestling League.

AWL 39

AWL 39 投稿者 AWLBoss