Only hours to go!

Well, a massive screw up on behalf of the AWL scheduling department (namely, me) has resulted in us bumping our coverage of the AWL at National Pro Wrestling Day. The video is currently scheduled to be posted early in the morning on Sunday February 2nd, JST (Please adjust for your own time zone). Remember, the AWL portion of the card is:

AWL World Light Heavyweight Championship Match:

Shin Tora (新虎) (C) vs. American Beetle

The new tiger makes the first defense of his title reign and the first ever defense of the title outside of Japan. After this match, the belt will be rechristened the AWL World Light Heavyweight Championship. American Beetle was hand chosen by the AWL Commissioner to become #1 Contender. While the boss's exact reasons are unknown, theories rushing around the locker room range from "A courtesy to a veteran who has been with the company since the first episode of Season Zero." to "American Beetle lives in the US anyway and the Commissioner just wanted to save on airfare by booking a local." Either way, this is an historic match that will usher in a new era for one of the AWL's biggest points of pride: The Light Heavyweight Division.

Ganba (ガンバ) vs. THUGLIFE 田中健一

We are happy to announce that Ganba has been medically cleared to wrestle following a scare during the Elimination Chamber Match at AWL 80. (Yes, Ganba was Captian AWL. It was a trick to get around the rule imposed by Ultramantis Black that only masked wrestlers could enter the chamber. The 2 wins and 1 loss attributed to Captain AWL have been added to Ganba's win-loss record). This will be a match between two countrymen who couldn't be any more different from one another. Ganba is the paragon of the hard working Japanese athlete. Tanaka Kenichi, on the other hand . . . isn't. In fact he more resembles a wannabe gangster. The exact opposite of Japanese respectability. The AWL Commissioner has said more than once that he sees great potential in Tanaka and his coaches at the Wrestle Factory have said much the same thing. Hopefully, putting him in the ring with The Japanese Megastar will show him a positive example and help him turn his life around.

HAKAISHA vs. Matt Classic

This is all Yarina's doing. After HAKAISHA was pinned at AWL 80, costing Crisis Gundan both their undefeated streak and the AWL World Tag Team Championships, Yarina reportedly through a fit and was seconds away from firing HAKAISHA when he somehow convinced her to give him another chance. This match is the result. For reasons I personally don't understand, Yarina wants HAKAISHA to prove himself and the AWL Commissioner suggested (or more likely assigned) Matt Classic to do the honors. Appropriately enough at National Pro Wrestling Day, we are going to see the oldest of the old school rasslers face the epitome of modern day WWE style body-building big man main eventers: The Japanese Destroyer, HAKAISHA!

All that and more in less than 24 hours at National Pro Wrestling Day 2014!

If you'd like to check out the real live version of National Pro Wrestling Day, it will be streaming LIVE via YouTube from Easton, PA on www.nationaprowrestlingday.com

The next news post will be after National Pro Wrestling Day and we will shift our focus fully to the 2014 New Year's Tournament.