Welcome back to another edition of the Puroresu Press. We’ll be talking about a few things with some big announcements. They will include; winners of a title with a certain ending, along with some disturbing news at the end regarding Joji Otani. But either way, it’ll be covered regardless and let’s just have some fun!
Great Muta coming back to the United States!
On November 18th, it was confirmed that Great Muta will be traveling to the United States/ Once again as he will be performing at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 4 event! Great Mutoh was apart of Wrestlemania weekend last year when he took part in House of Glory’s event and ROH G1 Supercard of Honor, which was a huge deal for the American fans. Now, it looks like he’ll be back again and this should be a fun one. Who knows, maybe he’ll appear in some more events during the Wrestlemania weekend. The event will take place on April 3rd, 2020. If you live in the area or gonna be there during Wrestlemania week, definitely check it out. To be able to see the Great Muta live in person is an experience in itself.
New Artist of Stardom Champions, Tension in Oedo Tai
During Stardom’s show on November 23rd, we had an Artist of Stardom Championship match. It involved Kagetsu, Andras Miyagi, and Natsu Sumire against Queen’s Quest members, Momo Watanabe, Utami Hayashishita, and AZM. It was the main event of the evening. After twelve minutes, new champions were crowned. AZM made Natsu tap out to win the titles for her team. Kagetsu, Miyagi and Sumire held it for 126 days but only had one successful title defense during that time due to having tournaments in between, making them unable to have frequent title matches for the titles. This is AZM’s third time winning this belt and is still the only belt she has one during her time in Stardom but she’s now teamed with two people who are the future of the company.
That’s not the only thing that would happen that night as soon as the match ended, Andras Miyagi would attack her fellow Oedo Tai teammates. This isn’t the first time that Andras has attacked Kagetsu as the first time that happened during the final day of the Goddesses of Stardom Tournament on November 15th. Now it looks like Andras is officially out of Oedo Tai and is looking to make a statement. This could be the best thing to happen to her since she felt like a third wheel in the group and not getting any real opportunities to show what she’s really made of. She’s done great in Sendai Girls and Andras having a feud with Kagetsu and Oedo Tai could be very interesting. So be sure to keep an eye out as the story progresses.
Naomichi Marufuji Making His Dragon Gate Debut!
Yes, you heard it right, Dragon Gate would add new matches for their last big show of the year, The Final Gate. One of those matches has Stalker Ichikawa taking on NOAH legend, Naomichi Marufuji. Marufuji has been having quite the year in professional wrestling and it looks like he’ll be traveling to Dragon Gate for the first time in his career. For those that don’t know “Hollywood” Stalker Ichikawa, he’s more well known for his comedic antics like how you see guys like Toru Yano and these can be pretty entertaining if you’re into that sort of thing.
The event will take place on December 15th and we got a lot of matches for it like Eita and Big R Shimizu defending their Open the Twin Gate Championships against YAMATO and BxB Hulk, and then the main event where Ben-K defends the Open the Dream Gate Championship against Naruki Doi. It’s shaping up to be an incredible event, so be sure to check it out at the Dragon Gate Network.
Joji Otani Arrested!
Now for some terrible news to end it for the day as we talk about an independent wrestler who got arrested on November 11th. Indy wrestler from the promotion, HEAT-UP, Joji Otani was arrested under the suspicion of having sex with a minor of the age of 16. One report stated that Joji was questioned by a police officer on the 11th of this month as he was seen walking with a girl that looked to be of high school age. Another report that was brought up was that he admitted that the girl he was seeing was 16.
Before people bring up that the age of consent in Japan is apparently 13, while that may be considered the case, certain parts of Japan still have their own set of laws that they follow. Children Welfare Act chapter 34 forbids any act of “fornication” (淫行) with children (here defined as anyone under 18 years of age).
Tokyo’s Youth Protection Law (Japanese: 東京都青少年の健全な育成に関する条例) which prohibits sexual activity with youths who are under 18 years old in most circumstances though some add exemptions for sex in the context of a sincere romantic relationship (typically determined by parental approval).
https://twitter.com/tamukaz/status/1194459402700410880?s=19&fbclid=IwAR1I-vd-Kb8qVFsPmwvF2y8e1adGn5p6oPAueQFtlZ8C3xJVdeibejqMp0s
Tamura even had to tweet about the situation and the translation for it was, “About the report of Joji Otani’s arrest There was a report that Joji Otani arrested the player belonging to HEAT-UP.
Currently, we are confirming facts with the person, parents, and police. We will tell you as soon as we understand it.
Sorry for the inconvenience and worries. Kazuhiro Tamura Representative, Pro Wrestling Heatup Co., Ltd.” Joji is apparently going to be at the November 23rd show to address his recent arrest to the audience. I know the show already happened at this point that the article is written but whatever update that occurs during the next Pruroresu Press will be covered in the next issue once we find out more.
Thank you all for your time on this edition of the Puroresu Press. I hope you all found something interesting in here to peek your interests and until next time.
