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!