One of NJPW’s more bizarre events of the year took place on Monday evening.
An El Desperado-promoted show, the “GasPE Invitational,” was an odd night of wrestling from Shinkiba 1st Ring in Tokyo, Japan.
After a pre-show opener which saw Taiji Ishimori beat Dragongate veteran Naruki Doi, the rest of the show followed a plot throughout. The event was hosted by both the usual Desperado and Starlight Kid (who was dressed up and pretending to be Desperado throughout the show).
Initially, it was announced that the show would have just one match, with AEW’s MxM Collection (Mason Madden and Mansoor) teaming up with the retired Milano Collection AT to face a mystery trio. This announcement seemed unlikely to actually come to fruition, as 50-year-old Milano Collection AT has been retired from in-ring action since 2009.
Madden and Mansoor felt ripped off once they heard that Milano, who was allegedly “abruptly left for vacation,” wouldn’t be their tag partner. To try and fix this, Desperado booked a battle royal to find Milano’s successor, who would serve as MxM’s tag partner in the main event.
The battle royal, which included NJPW names like KUSHIDA, Master Wato, YOH, as well as DDT’s Danshoku Dieno and independent talent Fuminori Abe, was won by MxM’s Madden. He would be the new Milano and serve as his own tag partner in the main event, it was announced.
But then plans changed once again. The original Milano called into the show, upset that his character was being stolen. He insisted that, instead of his character being used, Desperado himself would have to serve as MxM’s tag partner in the main event.
With the original Desperado still on the sidelines due to injuries he has been dealing with since before the Super Jr. Tag League, it was the Starlight Kid version of Desperado who worked alongside MxM Collection in the main event. The trio faced off against STARDOM’s Maki Itoh, DDT’s Kazuki Hirata, and CIMA in six-wrestler tag action.
In the end, the trio of MxM and Kid won two matches in a row. The first was just a five-second win, then a rematch saw Kid lock in Desperado’s Numero Dos submission to Hirata for the finish.
An earlier bout in the show also saw MxM Collection face NJPW’s Bishamon in tag action.
If you want to witness the experimental, at-times confusing night of wrestling yourself, the show is available via pay-per-view on NJPW World.
