Japanese star Takanashi aims to rule what he helped create
Having last year celebrated a decade of Thai wrestling, SETUP now rewards a man who proved instrumental in the scene’s foundation – Japanese icon Masa Takanashi – with a shot at the Kingdom’s top prize in the sport.
Takanashi, a staple of the famed DDT promotion in Tokyo and one half of the fabled Calamari Drunken Kingd tag team, competed in the very first professional wrestling match on Thai soil when Gatoh Move Thailand launched in 2012. He has been a supporter of Thai wrestling ever since and has provided advice and support to both the organisers and competitors over the years.
Now, one of the most influential figures in Thai wrestling aims to win the country’s most prestigious belt – that of the SETUP Openweight championship, currently held by local favourite Monomoth, at Episode12 in Bangkok’s Circus Studio on Saturday night.
Champion’s youth goes against challenger’s experience
Monomoth is one of the fastest-improving grapplers in all of Asia, having come from the ranks of prospects to climb the SETUP mountaintop in a spectacular 2022 campaign.
After winning a battle royal at Ep.9 in August, Monomoth then upset the ferocious veteran champion Terry Diesel in November, and has not looked back since, twice defending the gold, including in an epic rematch with Diesel last time out.
But even Diesel – a day-one competitor on the Thai wrestling circuit – is dwarfed in experience terms by Takanashi, a man who can boast a 20-year run in the squared circle, during which time he has collected innumerable championships both in Japan and abroad.
Clearly, given his investment in the Thai scene, Takanashi is fond of it, but that won’t stop him going out to put down the SETUP champion and take home the top title from a brand he helped create.
Monsters invade as mystery surrounds Diesel’s direction
There is a more malign intent in other Japanese visitors, as the UMA Corporation sends in the Kappa World Order, comprised of not one but three monstrous assassins hell-bent on a takeover of SETUP and beyond.
While it was initially thought that Andruew Tang had put down UMA’s efforts when he defeated Kappa Kozo at Ep.8, and Kozo in turn changed direction as he sought a new life in Thailand, matters only worsened from that point on.
First, Kozo was forcibly returned to the UMA fold when he was annihilated by the Great Kozo at Ep111, and then when SETUP star Terry Diesel attempted a post-match intervention, he too was struck down, and then kidnapped, and was not seen again until he resurfaced, brainwashed and transformed into the Kappa Rockstar.
Joined by Kappa Samurai and Jungle Kappa, they formed a team that set their sights on eliminating SETUP’s newest signing, Anont Alonzo, in a statement that not only are they targeting the heads of SETUP but also the roots of the next generation, in what would have been a horribly unfair three-on-one mismatch.
But in a show of unity, veteran stablemates Bital Hasdin and Matcha put aside their differences and stepped up to even the numbers and support not only the young hope but also their company and even their country.
The question remains as to whether Diesel will remain entranced by the evil UMA – in which case he will lend a ferocious advantage to their cause – or if he can be brought out of his trance and back into the light.
Will Sunny rise in hardcore title shot?
Further title action leads the undercard, with an enticing Wrestle Square Hardcore Championship showdown between Paksa and Hong Kong challenger Sunny Z promising to steal the show.
Paksa, as well as being one of the founding fathers of the Thai wrestling scene, has made the hardcore title his own across an impressive seven-month reign,
During that time he has seen off an array of would-usurpers from around the world, in singles action as well as various group match stipulations.
In Sunny Z, though, Paksa faces a renowned strongman who might prove his most dangerous challenger yet.
Sunny Z earned this shot by virtue of being on the winning side of a tag team match at Ep.11, when partner Emman Azman pinned P’Suchart (who teamed with Jonathan Johnson). Sunny issued his challenge to Paksa amid the post-match celebrations, and the proud champion immediately accepted.
Powerful, compact and brimming with confidence, Sunny has no doubts whatsoever that he will be taking the title back to Hong Kong – but will he change his mind once Paksa turns matter ultraviolent?
All or nothing for P’Suchart as the motorbike man reaches the crossroads
When P’Suchart left his motorcycle vest and helmet in the middle of the ring following defeat at Ep.11, fans took it to mean he had quit wrestling.
It is tradition that a wrestler indicates his retirement by placing his boots in centre ring after his last match, but P’Suchart was indicating something else entirely.
No, what this symbolised was not the end of a career, but a rebirth.
P’Suchart’s persona as a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky motosai driver who’d found fame in the ring was all well and good as a way to elevate his fame and earnings, but it could only take him so far as a sportsman.
Time after time, it could be said that P’Suchart was having fun, and even living his dream, but time after time, this would nevertheless end in defeat.
In fact, P’Suchart had never actually won a match!
This was a dismal stat that was not going unnoticed by the fans, who began to question his true capabilities.
Stung by the criticisms, P’Suchart decided he was done with the bike-riding half of his persona. That, after all, is low-paid work, in the sweltering outdoors, amid the pollution of the city and the dangers of its roads.
He would not miss the job, but P’Suchart will be forced to return to it if he can’t turn his passion for wrestling into tangible results.
And so, to show he has gotten serious, he has not only stripped off the orange vest but has also targeted a champion.
P’Suchart has challenged 24/7 ruler Ken Warren of the Philippines in a bout that will either confirm the Thai underdog’s lowly position, or lead to a rebirth in which he wears not a uniform but a belt.
Warren, for his part, didn’t hesitate to defend his crown against a man he no doubt sees as little more than a jobber.
But which job will it be from now on? Back to plying the sweltering streets of Bangkok, or proudly wearing championship gold?
Shivam must focus even as title opportunities go begging
Shivam had thought he was getting the ultimate consolation prize after dropping the AWGC Jr. Heavyweight Championship at Ep.11 – a chance to become SETUP’s only triple titleholder.
Already the company’s first dual champion – having simultaneously held AWGC and SETUP gold – and the longest-reigning titlist in Thai history, Shivam had been all set to challenge Baliyan Akki for the Gatoh Move Super Asia belt.
It was a more-than worthy alternative for Shivam, especially with his successor Andruew Tang having vacated the newly won title due to the worsening coronavirus situation making international travel troublesome – but suddenly, and unexpectedly, the lustre of the challenge was dimmed.
Akki recklessly put his title on the line against Shinno Hagane at Chocopro 300 last weekend, and duly dropped the belt.
He is obligated to go through with the Shivam match, but the complexion has changed dramatically. Will Akki be spurred on by defeat and seek to make amends against one of SETUP’s top liners? Will Shivam’s own enthusiasm dip now that the belt has been removed from the equation?
* Finally, an intriguing international affair pits promising young Thai Jonathan Johnson against the formidable Russian giant Ivan Markov. Johnson’s undeniable potential now comes with a harder edge, but will it be enough to put down the “Lokomotiv” in what would be the biggest result of his career to date?
Sponsors Hong Kong Pro Wrestling Federation / Siamdol
MATCH CARD
Monomoth v MasaTakanashi SETUP Openweight Championship
Kappa World Order v Anont Alonzo, Matcha and Bital Hasdin
Paksa v Sunny Z WrestleSquare Hardcore Championship
Baliyan Akki v Shivam Gatoh Move Super Asia Championship
Ken Warren v P’Suchart SETUP 24/7 Championship
Ivan Markov v Jonathan Johnson
NEWS AND FEATURES
Event page
SETUP Thailand Pro Wrestling company page
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