Tempers Flare Between Junya Matsunaga and Katsuhiko Nakajima Ahead of Their ZERO1 World Title Showdown on 11/23

By: Ian McCord 

Ahead of their ZERO1 World Heavyweight Title showdown on November 23rd at Korakuen Hall, champion Junya Matsunaga and challenger Katsuhiko Nakajima faced off in preview tag action at the ZERO1’s event at TOKYO SQUARE in Itabashi on November 7th.

Matsunaga, alongside Tsugutaka Sato, took on Nakajima and Masato Tanaka in the semi main event, with tensions boiling over between Matsunaga and Nakajima.

During the bout, Nakajima would light Matsunaga up with his signature offense, even blasting him with a kick so hard that it would send him to the outside to recover, while Nakajima waited impatiently like a hungry shark who smells blood in the water.

The fight between the two eventually spilled to the outside, where Nakajima used the chairs at ringside to his advantage, attacking the champion in a heated exchange.

The match eventually came to an end after Sato leveled Tanaka with his signature lariat to score the win for himself and Matsunaga.

During his post-match comments, a fired up Nakajima delveried a message to Matsunaga about his performance and went on question the future of ZERO1 with Matsunaga as its champion.

“Matsunaga, what was that all about today? Are you taking me for granted? You had a good look in your eyes at the end. You should’ve come at me with that look from the start. At this rate, ZERO1 will rot away before I even get a chance to destroy it.”

(English Translation via DeepL. Quote courtesy of Tokyo Sports)

Elsewhere on the card, the International Lightweight Tag Team titles were on the line with Takuya Sugawara and Naruki Doi defeating Yuki Toki and Van Vert Jack to capture the championships. Naruki Doi hit his Bakatare Sliding Kick onto Toki to pick up the win in just over sixteen minutes.

Here are the full results to ZERO1’s event at TOKYO SQUARE in Itabashi on November 7th courtesy of purolove.com:

• Ryunosuke Nagai defeats Nobuhiko Kimura (8:22) with a crab hold.
• Rose Offer Match: SAKI & Rina Amikura defeat Konomi Hori & Mariko Nanase (10:57) when SAKI pins Nanase.
• Gaia Hox defeats Bryan Ishizaka (9:04) with a Butterfly Effect.
• 3-Way Match: Chris Vice & Daichi Hashimoto defeat Hayabusa & Koji Doi and Yasu Kubota & Kota Sekifuda (10:56) when Vice pins Kubota.
• Junya Matsunaga & Tsugutaka Sato defeat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masato Tanaka (20:17) after a lariat by Sato on Tanaka.
• International Lightweight Tag Team Title: Takuya Sugawara & Naruki Doi defeated Yuki Toki & Van vert Jack (c) (16:15) after Doi’s Bakatare Sliding Kick on Toki—title change (Failed 2nd defense -> 33rd Champions)