#zero (1)

Loved it then.

This serves as the afterword on our look at the grumpy veterans who were vital cogs in their companies in 2025. YAMATO reigned with dignity reminding the Reiwa Six that they need to beat the man to be the man. Hirooki Goto embodied the romanticism of seeing a loser finally win and to be the last man standing and carrying the banner of his glorious generation. KENTA couldn't beat the young brat who had taken over his home company in his absence, but he could do the next best thing and beat the guy who beat the guy, which through the transitive property means that he beat the young brat. Finally, we look at Pro-Wrestling ZERO1, which has seen its own share of ups and downs and is probably charitably characterized as a famous Japanese indie wrestling company these days. Go Shiozaki, a 43 years old man who was a grumpy old man even in his 20s and 30s, is ZERO1's World Heavyweight Champion, (440 days and counting in that reign), but he's not the subject of our focus this time. There are legacies beyond title reigns, and even when you're not the champion, you still might be the company's standard bearer. In this case, Masato Tanaka hasn't been ZERO1's champion since 2023, but he's still the measuring stick for the company. He's still in their annual Fire Festival tournament, and he's still near the the top of the company's cards.

It's worth noting that I can't believe Masato Tanaka is still out there doing his thing. At 53 years old, Tanaka's wrestled for 32 years and taken hellacious damage to his body in the process. One only need to just see his matches against Mike Awesome across the decades to understand why it's bewildering that Tanaka is still active and performing at a decently high level.

On the other side, we have Hayabusa. They're not calling him Hayabusa II, El Hijo de Hayabusa, Hayabusa Jr., Hayabusacito, or El clon de Hayabusa. With the blessing of the family of Eiji Ezaki, who was the original Hayabusa, this new Hayabusa is portrayed as the old one reborn, a phoenix rising from the ashes of the old. According to a translation of his interview with Tokyo Sports, this new Hayabusa pushed back on the idea that he's reviving the identity: “People say I’m the second or third generation, or a new reincarnation, but I’m Hayabusa. I’m neither the second nor the third generation. I hope that the viewers will recognize me as such."

This new Hayabusa made his debut in April 2025 against Tanaka, and it makes sense given the number of times that the original Hayabusa and Tanaka crossed paths in FMW in the late 1990s. Also, a feud with the company's most famous veteran would serve as the highest potential launching point that the new Hayabusa could have. Hayabusa beat Tanaka in his debut, and Hayabusa's side defeated Tanaka's in various six-man and normal tag team matches in May and June.

The company then raised the ante for their rematch. Tanaka would leave ZERO1 if he lost; Hayabusa would unmask if he did. It seemed inconceivable that they would unveil Hayabusa within 4 months of his debut, but it seemed just as inconceivable that Tanaka, who is so closely identified with ZERO1, would leave the company. Then again, Daisuke Sekimoto, who is practically the heart of Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Strong division, announced in June 2025 that he would leave BJW and become a freelancer, so anything should be conceivable for these struggling second and third tier wrestling companies.

The 284 attendees at Shin-Kiba 1st RING start the match vocally behind Tanaka even though Hayabusa came out with a katana. Then again, if I see someone who's defying age as well as Tanaka is, I would probably root for him too.

(A quick note on attendance. It's the not the end-all be-all for how it impacts my wrestling experience, but I was curious what the attendance of other shows at this venue around the time of this show looked like.

7/26/25 - SEAdLINNNG Shin-Kiba Series 2025 Vol. 4 - 243

8/6/25 - Evolution Vol. 37 - 183

8/9/25 - GLEAT LIDET UWF Ver. 6 - 141

8/23/25 - TTT Progress 7 - 186

9/3/25 - AJPW Oudou Tournament 2025 - Tag 4 - 339

So, there seems to be evidence that this match between Tanaka and Hayabusa drew some interest from ticket buying wrestling fans.)

The match opens with a lot more grappling than I would have expected given my expectations about a new Hayabusa and the high stakes stipulation. I would have expected a little more violence, since both men have been driven to such extremes as to offer their identities as the prize for the match. It feels perfunctory.

We get a little more excitement when Hayabusa gets knocked down from a Tanaka elbow strike and gets up again; there is no word on whether Hayabusa will be pissing the night away after the match.

Hayabusa chases Tanaka outside the ring with a sliding dropkick and a missed moonsault off the middle rope, and Tanaka shows Hayabusa around Shin-Kiba 1st RING personally. (I want to note the fan in the second row who wears a replica of Hayabusa's iconic mask; I shouldn't be shocked that there would be at least one fan who wears a a replica of Hayabusa's iconic mask to the new Hayabusa's match as a tribute to the classic Hayabusa.) Hayabusa retaliates by attacking Tanaka's arm to theoretically weaken his rolling elbow and Sliding D running elbow strike.

There's a listlessness to Hayabusa that is...off-putting is probably too strong a term, but it's not far off. I also think that I expected a little more intensity from the start of the match given the stakes and what evoking Hayabusa would bring. Watching Hayabusa try to grind Tanaka's elbow into dust with submission holds didn't match my expectations.

However, when Hayabusa kicks off the fireworks with a headscissors takedown and a flip dive, the tope con hilo, it's not bad.

From there, we get more meat-headed goodness as they trade their best offense: suplexes, brainbusters, Falcon Arrows, Sliding D elbow strikes, lariats, and Tiger Drivers, all the things that I had anticipated in a match between Tanaka and Hayabusa. The sequence clearly worked for the crowd, though they're still on Tanaka's side.

Tanaka takes the match back outside and sets Hayabusa on a table. I can't believe that we got an "ECW" chant at a ZERO1 show in 2025.

And Tanaka gives the people what they want by smashing Hayabusa's leg with a fragment of the table.

I am very pleased that they've ratcheted up the match's intensity has escalated. This makes the deliberate start make a little more sense, but I will still contend that they could have accelerated the match's intensity sooner.

Tanaka, now armed with an attack vector, targets his offense at Hayabusa's leg. I appreciate the thought behind this approach; Tanaka gives Hayabusa an opportunity to garner sympathy and frustrates the viewers who want to see Hayabusa fly. So, when Hayabusa mounts his inevitable comeback with high flying, athletic offense, we are more inclined to cheer. It's a solid proposition for fan engagement for the last third of this match. Unfortunately, judging by the crowd's continued chanting for Tanaka, it's not wholly effective.

It makes sense. Tanaka has years and years of equity with the types of fans would make the trip to Shin-Kiba 1st RING to see him perform. This Hayabusa has only had four months of history with these fans; it's unclear how many of these fans even remember the old Hayabusa well enough to transfer their feelings to the new one. So, the lack of sympathetic groaning when Hayabusa misses his 450 splash makes sense; they don't know him well enough to care about him well the familiar Tanaka is right there.

In contrast, when Tanaka goes up for his frog splash, the crowd starts clapping, and when he crashes into Hayabusa's knees, raised to counter Tanaka's splash, they moan in agony along with Tanaka.

Both men deserve credit, however, because they are able to get the crowd invested in what Hayabusa does in the match. Hayabusa survives a flurry of Tanaka's offense and blocks a Sliding D, rolls Tanaka to his feet, and plops him down with a uranage slam. Then, Hayabusa chains together a couple of dives, including a successful 450 splash, and while the crowd is still chanting for Tanaka, they do seem bummed when Hayabusa crashes on his Phoenix Splash.

From there, Tanaka tries again with the Sliding D, and Hayabusa tries the H Thunder driver, but the match reaches its time limit as the two start trading pinning attempts.

I understand the limitations that ZERO1 has to contend with and the urgency they feel to make Hayabusa someone who can help with their struggling business. Nonetheless, I don't think this match really accomplished that goal. The crowd was firmly behind Tanaka, and Hayabusa simply hasn't had the time to build the equity that he needs to make fans sympathetic to his side in a match with such serious stipulations. For his part, Hayabusa just seems slow, lacking the athletic pop that made the original such a standout. Doing something as simple as jumping right to the top turnbuckle would greatly help the new Hayabusa, but all I could think of was how slow and thudding his dives seemed compared to what state of the art aerial offense in professional wrestling is. That's the danger of resurrecting a persona from the past; you're obliged to pay homage, but you have to at least meet the memory of the original's execution, if not exceed it. In this case, this Hayabusa's not there yet. Tanaka, bless him, did his best. It barely feels like he's slowed down after all these years, which would be an unbelievable contention if I hadn't just seen it for myself.

As of this writing, this is the 176th highest rated match of 2025 on Cagematch. That feels about right; all the submission attempts and the attacks on Hayabusa's leg ultimately amount to nothing more than time filler so we could have the match end in a time limit draw.