Road to Declaration of Innovation Night 1

Reina Itsuno vs. Rukia Hoshino

(Young Lion Match)

The night kicks off with two of the newest trainees to enter the InNOVAtion Dojo. Reina Itsuno and Rukia Hoshino both came from a modeling background and look to follow their wrestling dreams starting tonight.

 

The two began their match with a respectful handshake before beginning to circle the other, ready to prove themselves to be the better of the two. They began with a collar and elbow tie up which was taken control of by Reina, who was able to bring Rukia down to the mat. Inexperience showed when Rukia was able to stretch her legs wrapping them around the head of her opponent using it to escape the hold and put her opponent in a headscissors. Reina used some of her athleticism to try to escape, but Rukia nearly caught her with a roll-up when she did. 

 

The two of them went back and forth for the duration of the match, they knew they wouldn't have a long time limit to play with, only ten minutes for the trainees matches. Trading basic holds, lock-ups, strikes and everything else they had learned under the dojo, plus a few unique moves of their own, Reina and Rukia nearly scoring the win over each other with a Famouser and Backdrop Suplex respectively.

 

Pushing into the final minute, the two traded blows back and forth until Rukia swung high catching Reina in the ear with a high kick, before wrapping her in a hug of sorts and planting her into the mat with a Belly To Belly Suplex. She attempted to keep Reina pinned down for the cover but as the referee got down to count, the bell rang, signaling a draw in their first match against one another.

 

Alpha Chads vs. Sanada/Misaki

(Young Lion Match)

The second match of the evening would see newly crowned Innovation World Champion, Brandon Torres teaming up with his long time best friend, Josh Hammond, who was making his return to INNOVATION to form the Alpha Chads. They united to take on the trainee duo of Saito Misaki and the second-generation Benjiro Sanada, one of the newer additions to the dojo along with the previously showcased modeling duo of Reina and Rukia.

 

Coming off of a grueling match with nemesis Chris Brookes, Brandon opted to start out on the apron letting Josh take point against Benjiro, who was starting off for the trainee team. Josh strutted the ring with his usual swagger as opposed to Benjiro who moved a bit stiffer trying to keep himself prepared for an attack from someone who was easily one of the best grapplers in the game today. Eventually the two converge into the middle of the ring, Benjiro trying to go into a more traditional lock-up but when he lunged, Josh would instead stomp violently onto the young man's foot causing him to slip up momentarily, letting the man who called himself the best technical wrestler in any galaxy get the upper hand seizing the young Sanada’s arm and wrenching it behind his back early on. 

 

Try as he might to get out Benjiro was getting nowhere and soon enough he was tripped up by Josh sending him falling forward onto the mat, with Josh following and quickly planting his knee into the lower back of his opponent, keeping him forcibly grounded as he continued to wrench on the arm. Benjiro looked to the corner and reached out but he was too far away from his tag partner and from the ropes to do anything without a little fight. Fighting up from the mat was difficult but the young man would try his best to do so, as he continued to try and pull himself towards the ropes with only one good arm. During this, Josh would transition into the Glass Spider, his Double Omoplata Crossface submission hold meaning Benji now had no arms to drag himself towards the ropes and on top of that, the pain of Josh wrenching back on the crossface was not helping.

 

But eventually, with enough struggle Benjiro was able to throw his foot across the bottom rope forcing Josh to need to break the hold, obviously waiting till a count of four from the referee. Despite being free now, Benjiro didn't seem to be in a good spot with Josh still stalking around the boy waiting for him to get up. Benji made the only smart play he could and rolled out from the ring, circling around the ring and sliding in tagging in Saito Misaki. 

 

Saito slipped into the ring and unlike his partner wouldn't fall victim to the mind games of Hammond, instead he would be the one to rush the taller individual rushing immediately into a basement dropkick into the knee of Josh taking it out from under him. Taking a cut out from the tree that was Josh Hammond, Saito got back to his feet and used the newfound leverage over his opponent to throw forearm strike after forearm strike, attempting to wear down the bigger man. This would lead into Saito pulling him back onto his feet and sending him towards the ropes. Once Josh rebounded off the ropes, Saito would dive at him slamming his shoulder into Josh’s midsection with a spear. Feeling the heat, Saito stood up quickly tagging Benjiro back in and together attempted a double suplex on the tall man, but Josh was able to slip out the back door.

 

He nailed Benji with a knee strike to the back of his head to stun him, before tossing Saito into the Alpha Chads’ corner for Brandon to catch and hold onto. Josh turned his attention back to Benji and within the moment, the Hydrangea was locked in on the young man and before they even hit the ground, Benjiro was tapping out profusely as the bell rang signaling the end of the short-lived contest.

 

Keiko/Itoh vs. bestfriends44ever

The third match of the evening sees two experienced teams going at it. The team of Maki Itoh and the reigning Innovation Women's Champion, Akane Keiko take on the best friends tandem of Emma Jade and Mikayla Mikado, otherwise known as bestfriends44ever. The best friend duo had a bit of a mishap back at Ultimate Destiny II, which in part led to Aiko Akuma retaining the Innovation High Speed Championship by pinning one half of the duo. Will the two fare better on this night in proper tag team action?

The match began with Mikayla Mikado standing across from Maki Itoh. The two were much smaller in size compared to Akane and well, anyone else in this match. As the bell rang and Miki prepared to charge at Maki, she was stopped as she felt a tap on her shoulder and the referee called a tag. Emma slipped through the ropes into the ring telling Miki to trust her as she stepped out. Now that things seemed mostly okay, a tense aura still hung in the air, Maki and Emma were ready to get the match going properly. 

 

As the two moved from their corners, it seemed like Emma was ready to make the early goings of this match more of a high speed contest but right as she was getting her steam building, WHAM. Maki leaped into the air headfirst, letting Emma’s chest collide with the hardest head in professional wrestling since the Samoans. Emma collapsed to the mat and Maki quickly crawled over her, hooking a leg but Emma kicked out before the referee could count beyond one and a half. The poor girl looked winded after the impact, but she still tried her best to get back to her feet as Maki danced around her with an arrogance that had to be a bit infuriating for the British Columbian. 

 

As Emma rose to her knees she got a double axe-handle into her back before she was dragged by her hair over towards one of the neutral corners of the ring and pushed into it as Maki stepped onto the middle rope, shouting to the crowd as loudly as she could.

“WHO’S THE CUTEST IN THE WORLD???”

 

As they all simultaneously cried out “ITOH-CHAN!” she would begin unloading closed-fist punches into the top of Emma’s skull with the joyful glee of a seasoned psychopath. She only got to about eight punches before she was forcibly pushed off the middle rope landing first on her feet before stumbling back onto her hind quarters, as Emma dashed from the corner driving the point of her elbow into Maki’s chest, nailing her with a sliding elbow she had so aptly named Death By Emzrr. She rolled over and tagged out to Miki who slipped into the ring and immediately sprinted across the ring to land a cheeky forearm on Akane in an attempt to knock her off the apron, before she turned her attention back to Maki.

 

She would pull Itoh up onto her feet by her red and black hair, putting her arms around her head before moving towards the corner, stepping up the ropes and flipping over her opponent to send her down with Sliced Bread #2, before she folded Maki’s body over for a cover attempt.

 

She got to a two count but would be interrupted as Akane entered the ring and simply plucked her off of Maki. She held her in position for a German Suplex, and then threw her damn near across the ring, causing Miki to land in a heap. Akane simply grabbed Maki's wrist and dragged her over to their corner before she tagged herself in and pushed Maki out onto the apron. Akane once again turned her sights onto Miki and as she began to rise to her feet, only getting to her hands and knees, Akane moved with speed towards her and sent a swift kick into her gut. 

 

Miki already seemed like a broken toy so instead of beating the dead mantis shrimp, Akane tossed her towards the corner where Emma stood onlooking and urged her to tag in, which of course she did. Akane stood with her arms behind her back as Emma rushed her, throwing a flurry of strikes into her one after another, none of which seeming to have an effect on the champion as she grinned like a mad woman, absorbing every shot. One swift headbutt followed from Akane, which looked like it took Emma completely out of it but that wouldn't be the nail in her coffin. Akane looked to be setting up for Seeing Red, turning Emma away from her corner and towards the center of the ring, but Miki had since regained some of her energy and climbed to the top rope of her corner.

 

Akane could hear her shout to her and as she turned, she saw Miki dive for a crossbody, but with a fast move she kept her hold on Emma and moved her into the line of fire letting Emma take the crossbody from her best friend. Akane then quickly tossed Miki from the ring letting her body land hard on the floor hard, before she scooped up Emma and after a quick Pumphandle Driver called Seeing Red, Emma was down for the three count, ending the match on another miscommunication for the best friends.

 

Emma and Miki were helped from the ring, and to the back, seemingly not being too happy with how the other performed in the match, which left just Maki and Akane in the ring. Maki would be the first to begin exiting the ring when the lights in the venue dropped out leaving everyone in darkness. That was until the tron would light up with two simple worlds. “THE RETURN” 

 

The speakers would then begin to fill up with the tune of “Dictator” by Rei Ami and after a few moments of confusion from the crowd they would erupt in cheers. In the same city she originally made her Innovation debut, JADA-ROSE MATTHEWS would make her Innovation return! With a smile on her face and confidence in her strut she would make her way down to the ring and once inside she would stare down the two remaining women. After being given a microphone her music would cut out and Maki Itoh stepped up, obviously she was here for the cutest in the world! Right? … Right? No, Jada pushed Maki right out of the way as she sized up Akane and let one of her fingertips grazed the title belt hanging off her shoulder.

 

She remarked that the title looked good on Akane, but it always looked better with HER. She reminded everyone that back when she was the Innovation Women's Champion, she never actually lost the belt, she relinquished it, then it went to Quinn and found its way to Akane. She had held that title almost the entire time since Jada had been gone and now that she's back well… she wants her belt back too. Jada officially challenges Akane for the Innovation Women's TItle at Declaration of Innovation and extends her hand, despite looking skeptical about the challenge… Alane agrees and the two shake hands all but making the match official.

 

Chinmoku/SKY vs. Sera/Suzuki

The semifinal match of the night would see the debuts of two well known figures in the joshi circuit, those being Risa Sera and Suzu Suzuki. They would be going up against two INNOVATION regulars, making the team of IYO SKY and Kuro Chinmoku. IYO had unfortunately suffered a big loss at Ultimate Destiny while Kuro was coming off of a momentum building win by finally defeating her former best friend, Saya Sokudo.

 

The match began with Kuro Chinmoku and Risa Sera starting off for their respective teams.It was a high speed specialist against someone known far and wide for their affinity for violence and deathmatch wrestling, creating a clash of styles to begin. Kuro wanted to make the match about speed where she excelled, with a touch of technical wrestling, but Risa immediately shut her down with a shoulder block.

 

Sera controlled the match for the early-going, her experience edge over Kuro showing itself as she out-wrestled the youngster at every turn. Every other move left her reaching for a tag out to IYO SKY, but she could never reach. Risa eventually pinned her into the corner, holding her there for Suzu Suzuki to tag herself in. The younger competitor stepped into the ring and traded positions with Risa, driving Kuro down into the corner with a foot choke. The referee intervened, forcing Suzuki back from the illegal hold at four, but she kept the referee’s attention for Risa to continue it from the apron.

 

The tag had been made but Kuro still couldn’t mount much offense against her new opponent in Suzuki. Not until Suzu turned the tide to the high speed style her and Chinmoku both excelled at, but it backfired for the Crazy Girl as a rebound from the ropes caused the masked wrestler to evade Suzu’s kick, and take her down with a Hurricanrana. She crawled to the corner, trying to tag IYO but Suzu caught her by the foot, until she turned and shoved her opponent off. Kuro made the tag, and the Genius of the Sky entered.

 

IYO took to the skies immediately, springing up to the top rope to connect with a Springboard Front Dropkick to Suzuki’s chest. Suzu was put on her back as IYO sprung up to her feet. Suzu crawled to the corner, standing up into a Running Meteora to the chest from SKY. She swept out the younger wrestler’s legs before rushing to the opposite corner, then hitting a second Meteora with an even higher velocity, crashing into Suzuki. She was looking to finish things off quickly, stepping over Suzu and climbing to the top rope. She was sizing up to connect with the Over The Moonsault, until Risa Sera grabbed her by the leg and stopped her from jumping.

 

Sera got a warning from the referee before IYO successfully fought her off of the apron, but she had taken too long. Suzu was back up to her feet, able to pull SKY from the top rope and drop her face-first across the top turnbuckle. Suzu hooked her by the arm and leg, flipping to plant her with the Tequila Shot, but IYO kicked out at two. Suzu got to her feet and tagged out to Risa Sera again, while Suzu climbed up onto the top rope. Risa got up on the middle rope, carrying Suzu on her back to jump off and drive their combined weight into SKY’s midsection with their signature Double Double Knee Drop.

 

Risa went for the pin, but SKY kicked out at two again. Sera lifted her up from the canvas after, putting her onto her shoulders and connecting with Ayers Rock. She got back to her feet and tagged out to Suzu once again, who climbed to the top rope a second time, looking to connect with the Sky Twister Press, until Kuro Chinmoku pulled her mentor out of the ring to save her. Suzu got down from the top rope to the apron, sizing up both opponents to hit a Missile Dropkick from the apron, but she only ended up catching Chinmoku with it.

 

SKY got back into the ring, Suzu following in and approaching her only to be met with a Shotei. The palm strike connected, sending her stumbling toward Risa who was calling for Suzuki to come to her voice and make a tag, but before she could, SKY hit a Dropkick of her own into Suzu’s back, sending her careening into Risa Sera and falling into the middle rope. SKY hit a Tiger Feint Kick onto Suzu, knocking her to the middle of the ring. She shouted for Kuro to get up, and the masked wrestler got on the apron opposite her mentor. They leapt into the air and sandwiched Suzu with stereo Springboard Dropkicks.

 

IYO dragged her to the corner while Kuro grabbed the tag rope again, and she tagged out to her student. IYO climbed to the top rope and connected with the Over The Moonsault on Suzuki, before Chinmoku tied her up in Black Silence. It was only a few seconds in the hold before Suzu was out, and the referee called for the bell.

 

Adam Cole vs. Nessie Halliday (c)

(INNOVATION International Title Match)

After a grueling ladder match with Will Ospreay at Ultimate Destiny II to win the INNOVATION International Championship, Nessie Halliday was going to prove himself as a fighting champion. Adam Cole had an impressive track record since his debut, and earned the right to be Halliday’s first challenger. And after entrances, he had a confident smirk on his face after Nessie removed his shirt and jacket, showing the athletic tape supporting his lower back.

 

The match started with the two men evidently taking different approaches, but Cole was able to neutralize Halliday’s speed by going for the target painted on his back. Every strike, slam, and hold from Cole was in one way or another targeted at the small of Halliday’s back. The champion continued trying to fight back, but his smallest bursts of offense were cut off at the pass by the challenger for nearly ten minutes.

 

But pushing Nessie through the immense pain shooting through his spine from every action was the support of the crowd. He spent so long on the unsuccessful defensive before finally willing himself to his feet in the midst of a Rear Chin Lock, then sending Cole to the ropes. Nessie ducked underneath his opponent on the first rebound, then leapt over him on the second. On the third and final rebound, Halliday caught the challenger with a Spanish Fly. Pain visibly surged through his body from performing a backflip, but Nessie went for a cover after. He was weak and spent too long, meaning he only got less than a two count.

 

He picked Adam up to his feet after the failed pin attempt, and began throwing forearms and chops alternatively into the chest of his opponent. Cole would soon fire back with a few chops of his own, before Ness ducked beneath and nailed a Thrust Kick into Adam’s jaw. It sent him stumbling away, in prime position for Ness to leap to the middle rope and connect with his signature Nesscutter! He rolled him over to his back, going for another pin attempt but this time only scoring a count of two. Ness’ next idea was to climb up to the top rope, but Cole saw it coming and got up just in time to pull on the rope and crotch Nessie on the top turnbuckle. He climbed up with Halliday, hooking him by the neck and dropping him from the very top with a Superplex. Cole went for another cover, but was only able to score a two count of his own.

 

Nessie was pulled by his messy blonde hair to sit up on his knees, as Cole pulled down his knee pad. He was looking to connect with The Boom, but quickly swung his body forward to duck the incoming knee strike. Adam landed on his back, while Halliday used this surge of adrenaline to connect with a Discus Forearm. Halliday backed to the opposite side of the ring, running toward Cole and looking to strike again, but wound up running straight into a Pump Kick from the challenger. Halliday flipped and fell in a heap, slowly pulling himself up to his knees while Cole ran to the ropes to finally catch him with a variant of The Boom, his knee colliding with the champion’s face!

 

He went for a cover, rolling Ness onto his back and laying across him, but was blind to see Halliday’s close proximity to the ropes. The referee nearly counted to three, before instinct took over and Ness placed his foot on the bottom rope! Cole was in disbelief, shouting at the referee and his opponent alike before pulling Nessie to his feet. He hooked an arm around his neck again, now lifting him up to go for The Last Shot, but Halliday managed to slip behind. He wrapped his arms around Cole’s waist, gripping his wrist and spinning him out into the Wavemaker!

 

Halliday stepped up onto the bottom rope, then up to the middle before launching off to connect with the Springy-Wingy Nesscutter. Cole was planted facefirst, before Nessie picked him up and placed him on his shoulders. He popped him to the side and drove him down with the Deep Sea Driver. Nessie climbed to sit across Cole’s stomach and hooked both legs, stacking him up to get a three count for the win!

 

After the match, Halliday received his championship from the official, holding it over his shoulder as his arm was raised in victory. He requested a microphone to speak to the audience after, giving everyone the thanks for fulfilling his dream that he couldn’t at Ultimate Destiny. He bid goodnight to the fans, before suddenly being jumped from behind by a masked figure!

 

He stomped on Halliday for a few moments before picking up the title and putting it over his own shoulder. The man removed his mask, revealing himself as the former INNOVATION Strong Style Champion, Jackal! He has returned to INNOVATION, putting the International Champion on notice in the process!

 

END