After an exciting start to the year with not just one but three full length free shows on YouTube, it’s time to make watching Osaka Pro Wrestling your belated New Year Resolution. February will feature the promotion’s first and arguably best tournament of the year: the two-day Tag Festival. Unfortunately, as this is one of the most popular events of the year, the best and most complete footage is often saved for Osaka Pro’s monthly show on GAORA sports, which will air in March. However, digests of the two days of the festival, often with select full matches, can be expected on YouTube in the week following the live shows.
The tournament
Osaka Pro’s Tag Festival is a long-running tradition, inherited from the original Osaka Pro calendar. Like many lucharesu-based promotions in Japan, tag-team wrestling, even with impromptu teams, is one of Osaka Pro’s strongest areas. In the new Osaka Pro under President Zeus, this is the first big event of the year, setting the scene for the big spring event, BUSHI-DO, in March.
The tournament follows an elimination format, with eight teams facing off over two consecutive days – the 23rd and 24th of February. Adding to the drama this year is the announced reveal of a new member of Rogue Nation, Osaka Pro’s heel group, the day before the festival. Will it be one of the competitors? An outsider added to the mix? There have been no clues thus far on what impact this may have on the festival itself, but the last-minute reveal suggests that there could be some additional drama going in.
The teams
Quiet Storm & Shigehiro Irie (The current Champions)
Crowned at the end of 2024, the babyface big boy Champions ‘Beast Storm’ are a relatively recent team. Irie, as a former Osaka Pro kids class trainee, and Storm, as Osaka Pro’s first foreign singles Champion, both have a long history with the promotion but a far shorter one with each other. They were first brought together in November when Irie saved Storm from the attacks of his former Rogue Nation teammates, and offered him a chance at a more secure position in Osaka Pro’s main unit.
oth seem energised by teaming together but are less accustomed to working with each other than some of the other teams in the tournament. Still, they certainly have a size advantage over most and may be buoyed by their Championship victory.
Tigers Mask & Aran Sano (The master and student)
This master and student team might seem like easy pickings – Sano is the the new Osaka Pro’s first rookie and Tigers Mask is approaching 50. However, Tigers Mask still has some of the most terrifying kicks known to man and Aran, though young, has been making rapid progress with some big name wins in recent months. This tournament might be the perfect time for him to have a break-out performance.
The duo will be facing the Champions right away, giving Sano a chance to prove that his victory over Quiet Storm in the Autumn was no fluke. The young wrestler has also recently added an impressive looking musou to his arsenal that he might like to try out on some larger opponents.
Zeus & Kazuaki Mihara (The new and old Osaka Pro)
This is a quintessentially Osaka Pro team, with President Zeus and Kazuaki Mihara both representing parts of the old and new Osaka Pro. Zeus debuted two years ahead of Mihara and they have been variously allies and opponents for over 17 years. Mihara, although no longer an official Osaka Pro wrestler, is still synonymous with the company and was the last wrestler to hold the main Osaka Pro Championship before Zeus took over in 2022. Zeus defeated him for that title on the fourth official relaunch show, so they have more than a little personal competitiveness in the mix.
Whether as opponents or together though, they are a powerful force, and are one of the few teams who could match Storm and Irie for size and strength if they make it to the finals. Zeus only lost his Championship in December but he doesn’t tend to believe in the concept of ‘downtime’, so new first-time Champion TORU could find two very motivated former champions in the opposite corner..
TORU & Yasutaka Oosera (The all-gold team)
Last year TORU went into this tournament holding the Tag Titles with Goliath. Rogue Nation have switched things around this time, matching the Osaka Pro Champion with the Light Heavyweight Champion for an all-gold team. Rogue Nation would like nothing more than to take all the belts and prove that their way of livening up the company is one that sees results.
Oosera and TORU are friends in addition to partners, supporting each other’s choices even as opponents in last September’s Tennozan. They have recent experience as tag partners in the Hanazono Kingdom, and longer-term team experience with Oosera now having been in Rogue Nation for over a year. They look like a tough team to beat, assuming any trickery on their part hits their opponents and not their teammate (past history would suggest that Rogue Nation are sometimes more enthusiastic than accurate).
Don’t assume that this is a team bound for shenanigans, though. Both members won their titles without foul play and are some of the most exciting wrestlers to watch with and without any special tactics.
Ryuya Matsufusa & Kohei Kinoshita (The Osaka Pro kids)
The team of the recently dethroned Light Heavyweight Champion Matsufusa and the former Dove Pro Heavyweight Champion Kinoshita are somewhat of an unknown factor in this tournament. Their wrestling journeys run parallel, both having grown up together in the same Osaka Pro wrestling classes and then both training at Tigre Gym, but the two have relatively rarely been tag partners or opponents up to this point, due to working in different companies.
Kinoshita has far more experience, including as a tag and six-man specialist, and what we have seen of him and Matsufusa together so far suggests that he perfectly fits the space left by Matsufusa’s former tag partner Kikuchi. Matsufusa needs to find his footing after his big title loss in December, and Kinoshita will be keen to prove his worth as a more regular member of Osaka Pro. Both are part of the group of four young wrestlers, along with Kikuchi and Dotonbori/NOAH’s Harutoki, who Osaka Pro Veteran Tsubasa has picked out as the future of Kansai wrestling.
Matsufusa and Kinoshita are a fast-moving team with an already in-sync offence and could be poised to be the darlings of the tournament, provided they can overcome the Rogue Nation team of Asakawa and Goliath in the first round.
Shu Asakawa & Goliath (Brains and Brawn)
Rogue Nation like to switch up their teams and this is a new combination, though the pair have worked together regularly in other formats. Both have held the tag titles with other partners (Asakawa with Oosera, Goliath with TORU), so they certainly have the qualifications to go far in this tournament.
There are a few question marks over how smooth a team they might be – Asakawa managed to confuse Goliath with a handshake on their first meeting in the ring and he also has a nasty habit of accidentally hitting his partners with his hallmark Kendo stick.
That said, they should be an impressive combination of brains and brawn, provided they can figure out how to work together. Even if they don’t, either a well placed shot of Asakawa’s kendo stick or the grip of Goliath’s hands could still see them on the path to victory.
Takoyakida & Ultimate Spider Jr. (The actual tag team)
This is the one true long-term tag team in the tournament. They even have a dance to prove it (hopefully coverage will not cut the entrance scenes). Taco-Spa have had a tough time lately, with Ultimate Spider Jr being out with injury twice in 2024 and seemingly on a losing streak since his return.
This tournament should play to their strengths, though, and the not-quite-veterans will have a point to prove against combinations with less experience working together.
As both individuals and a team, Takoyakida and USJ can float between being adored stalwarts and serious competitors. They are not yet the terrifying veterans that the younger generation have to overcome, nor are they young enough to be pushing to be leading the company. It’s not yet clear what sort of Taco-Spa team we will get in this tournament, but USJ in particular will be keen to overcome his poor results since returning from injury.
HUB & SUZAKU (The Zodiac team)
A masked veteran and mysterious masked newcomer teaming up, representing two of the Chinese Four Symbols with the Black tortoise/snake (HUB) and the vermillion bird (SUZAKU) – this pair could be a powerful force.
SUZAKU first appeared in Autumn to challenge Matsufusa for the Light Heavyweight title. The man in the red mask may not have won, but he impressed the Osaka Pro fans with his crisp aerial offence, his rapid kicks, and his polite manner. HUB was convinced as well, and willing to work alongside this relative newcomer to climb his way back to the title he held with GAINA when Osaka Pro re-launched.
The few matches they have had together have seemingly worked well for both of them, so we may be witnessing the start of a more solid long-term team, though whether that results in victory at this early stage is not yet clear. They will have to surpass the long-standing teamwork of Taco-Spa to have a chance at tournament victory. Ryuya Matsufusa, the dragon, won and lost his title in the year of the dragon, so could the year of the snake be time for HUB to take a title himself?
What to watch out for
The tournament is likely to set up the path to title matches for BUSHI-DO in March, so who beats the current Champions – TORU, Oosera, Storm & Irie – during its course may well be important. The BUSHI-DO show is two days this year, so there is plenty of space for multiple match-ups. Mihara particularly would be an interesting opponent for TORU, so some tension in their clashes is to be expected.
In both blocks, we have some untested teams who could become long-term prospects, so seeing how well they work together and whether that translates to victory is part of the excitement. We have several of the potential future Light Heavyweight challengers in the tournament too, so they may want to stand out, regardless of whether they get to face Oosera directly.
Lastly, there is the potential for an all Rogue Nation semi-final, or for them to be cut out entirely, though this may all depend on who joins Rogue Nation on the 22nd February. This tournament promises drama and excellent tag team wrestling, so make sure you sign up to Osaka Pro’s YouTube channel for updates and to see some of the action. Last year’s final and semi-final matches are still available to watch there and highly recommended for those who have not seen them yet.