Here it is, New Japan's major post-BOSJ stand-alone show from Tokyo Nippon Budokan. It may not have done a great crowd, but this was definitely a worthy lineup for the building, with variety on the undercard featuring the wackiness of DDT (and awesomeness of MIKAMI), fast-paced joshi puroresu of Hyper Visual ARSION, and of course, the New Japan juniors. The two top matches were definitely big ones, the first being an ungodly stiff war between Takayama and Nakanishi, followed by a tremendous IWGP Heavyweight Title match between current ace, Yuji Nagata, and former ace, Kensuke Sasaki.


NJPW "BATTLE ZONE 6-7", 6/7/02 (WPW) (Buy)
Tokyo Nippon Budokan
9,000 Fans

1. El Samurai & Blue Wolf beat Katsuyori Shibata & Wataru Inoue (7:24) when Wolf used a Mongolian slam on Inoue.
2. MIKAMI & Takashi Sasaki beat Poison Sawada JULIE & Hebikage (14:39) when MIKAMI used a Swanton bomb on Hebikage.
3. Mariko Yoshida , Michiko Omukai , Rie Tamada , Ai Fujita & baby A beat Lioness Asuka , GAMI , noki-A , Fabi Apache & Bionic J (19:02) when Fujita used a firebird splash on Apache.
4. Tadao Yasuda & Osamu Nishimura beat Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto (2:21) when Nishimura used a ground Cobra Twist on Goto.
5. Koji Kanemoto, AKIRA, Black Tiger 3 & Gedo beat Jushin Thunder Liger, Minoru Tanaka, Tiger Mask 4 & Curry Man (12:36) when AKIRA used an STF on Curry.
6. Yutaka Yoshie beat Minoru Fujita (6:16) with a backfist.
7. Bas Rutten beat Masayuki Naruse (6:37) by TKO.
8. Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton beat Kenzo Suzuki & Hiroshi Tanahashi (11:59) when Norton used a Jackhammer on Suzuki.
9. Yoshihiro Takayama beat Manabu Nakanishi (17:50) with a left knee kick.
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Yuji Nagata (c) beat Kensuke Sasaki (22:44) with a backdrop suplex hold (2nd defense).

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All Japan's 7/17 PPV is already available - yes, already. Featuring the already infamous Kronik title win and what could well be the match of the year, Tenryu vs. Kojima, this Budokan show had it's fair share of happenings.

AJPW, 7/17/02 (PPV/GAORA TV) (Buy)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
5,850 Fans (Sell Out)

1. Masanobu Fuchi & Kazushi Miyamoto beat Shigeo Okumura & Hideki Hosaka (6:40) when Fuchi used an inside cradle on Hosaka.
2. George Hines, Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang beat Johnny Smith, Ryuji Hijikata & Gran Naniwa (11:26) when Hayashi used the Final Cut on Naniwa.
3. Steve Williams, Mike Rotundo & Yuto Aijima beat Arashi, Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai (7:05) when Williams used a homicidal backdrop driver on Araya.
4. AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kendo Ka Shin (c) beat Gran Hamada (11:38) with an avalanche-style cross armbreaker (2nd defense).
5. 30th Anniversary Special Match in Osaka: Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras beat Abdullah The Butcher & Yoji Anjo (8:20) when Mascaras used a diving body attack on Anjo.
6. Mike Barton & Jim Steele beat Mitsuya Nagai & Tomoaki Honma (5:52) when Steele used the Turbo Drop II on Honma.
7. AJPW World Tag Team Title: Brian Adams & Bryan Clark beat Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea (c) (14:59) when Clark used the Meltdown on Muto to become the 46th champions.
8. Triple Crown: Genichiro Tenryu (c) beat Satoshi Kojima (28:55) with a powerbomb (1st defense).

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The opening show of the month long "SUMMER FIGHT SERIES 2002" series was an SXW taping from Utsunomiya. Pretty much a standard show, with good wrestling and storyline development to be found. Samurai vs. Gedo, which isn't exactly young lion-esque in it's minorness, opened the show, but two other juniors matches would follow, including a 20 minute draw between two great teams.

NJPW, 6/20/02 (SXW) (Buy)
Utsunomiya City Gymnasium
2,000 Fans

1. Gedo beat El Samurai (9:55) with the Gedo clutch.
2. Osamu Nishimura beat GOKU-DO (8:29) with a front cradle.
3. Shiro Koshinaka beat Rob Rage (5:24) with a powerbomb.
4. Jushin Thunder Liger & Masayuki Naruse beat Wataru Inoue & Katsushi Takemura (11:45) when Naruse used the Crazy Cyclone on Inoue.
5. Minoru Tanaka & Tiger Mask 4 vs. Koji Kanemoto & AKIRA went to a draw (20:00) when the time limit expired.
6. Yuji Nagata & Super J beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie (16:06) when Nagata used a backdrop suplex hold on Yoshie.
7. Masahiro Chono, Scott Norton, Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto beat Kensuke Sasaki, Kenzo Suzuki, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Blue Wolf (15:42) when Norton used a powerbomb on Wolf.

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ZERO-ONE released their 6/29 and 6/30 shows on one broadcast, so there is a lot of clipping. Clicking either of the links (they go to the same place) will give you details of what was clipped. There are several matches worth checking out though, most notably the 6/29 main event.

ZERO-ONE, 6/30/02 (Samurai! TV) (Buy)
Sapporo Teisen Hall
1,500 Fans (Sell Out)

1. Kamikaze beat Shinsuke Sumiya (2:52) with a Cobra Twist.
2. Smelly beat Kuroge Wagyuta (5:05) with a full nelson buster.
3. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshito Sasaki beat Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka (14:24) when Takaiwa used a Death Valley Bomb on Hidaka.
4. Steve Corino & Rapid Fire Maldonado beat Yuki Ishikawa & Katsumi Usuda (10:19) when Corino used a vital part attack on Usuda.
5. ZERO-ONE/NWA/UPW Jr. Heavyweight Title: Spanky (c) beat Naohiro Hoshikawa (11:58) with a jumping front cradle (1st defense).
6. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Hirotaka Yokoi beat Kohei Sato & Ryouji Sai (9:04) when Fujiwara used a stomach hold on Sai.
7. Nathan Jones beat Shinjiro Otani (9:53) with a powerbomb.
8. Shinya Hashimoto & Masato Tanaka beat Tom Howard & The Predator (15:00) when Hashimoto used a vertical drop brainbuster on Howard.

ZERO-ONE, 6/29/02 (Samurai! TV) (Buy)
Sapporo Teisen Hall
1,500 Fans (Sell Out)

1. Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka beat Kuroge Wagyuta & Fugofugo Yumeji (13:23) when Togo used a diving senton on Yumeji.
2. ZERO-ONE/NWA/UPW Jr. Heavyweight Title: Spanky beat Smelly (12:41) with a cradle to become the 1st champion (decision match).
3. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kamikaze beat Steve Corino & Rapid Fire Maldonado (16:28) when Fujiwara used a wakigatame on Maldonado.
4. Hirotaka Yokoi beat Yoshito Sasaki (6:56) by referee stop.
5. Yuki Ishikawa & Katsumi Usuda beat Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Naohiro Hoshikawa (11:00) when Ishikawa used a cross armbreaker on Takaiwa.
6. Nathan Jones beat Ryouji Sai (3:28) by referee stop.
7. Tom Howard & The Predator beat Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato (15:16) when Predator used a northern lights suplex hold on Sato.
8. NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Title: Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka (c) beat Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda (20:05) when Otani used the Spiral bomb on Kanemura (3rd defense).