Two new Young Lions go the ten minute distance in Korakuen Hall

August 24 saw the debut of brand new Young Lions Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa, wrestling one another in the opening bout of the evening. 

The ten minute bout started on the mat, each man showing their amateur backbones and trying to take their opponent’s back as the crowd applauded both men. Fujita would come up with a headlock, quickly countered by the slightly older Oiwa, but it was Fujita who gained an advantage with stomps and a single arm takedown that drove Oiwa to the ropes. 

Moments later Fujita would come up with the arm again in a Fujiwara armbar, pushing the advantage at the five minute mark, before daring Oiwa to fire up; this he did with a hard forearm before a single leg and knee bar. With three minutes left on the clock, Oiwa found a single leg crab, and put all he had in the ropes even in the face of the referee’s count and verbal warning. 

Fujita would respond with a big dropkick, and a second that rocked Oiwa and led to a two count. Fujita fought for and then applied a full Boston Crab with one minute left on the clock, and tried again for the hold, but Oiwa resisted submitting as the clock ran out. 

In the plus position as the time limit expired, Fujita reacted with pride at the bell as a frustrated Oiwa left ringside. Yuto Nakashima, still recovering from an elbow injury sustained in his own debut, watched on. Oiwa and Fujita will face one another in the opening bout for the next three nights on the remainder of the Summer Struggle tour.