Naruki Doi And Van Vert Jack To Clash In Tenkaichi Junior Final On October 10

The Tenkaichi Junior Final is set.

Naruki Doi and Van Vert Jack will compete in the finals of ZERO1’s Tenkaichi Junior tournament on October 10 in Shinkiba 1st RING. The two men each survived two rounds over the past two weeks and will fight to earn a spot on the legendary list of names to have won the competition since 2002.

The 46-year-old Naruki Doi reached the finals after he beat Osaka Pro standout Sho Mizuno on September 26 and former AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seigo Tachibana on October 3. On the flip side, 21-year-old Van Vert Jack defeated BJW’s Kosuke Sato in his first round matchup, following that with a win over ZERO1’s hometown guy Yuki Toki in the semis.

One interesting thing about both men is that, if Doi was to win, he’d become the oldest wrestler to win the Tenkaichi, while if Jack wins, he would become the youngest. These two have never had a singles match in their career, and they’ve only been in two tag matches as of writing, both on opposite sides and both won by Doi.

Elsewhere on the card, ZERO1 will hold a third place match between Seigo Tachibana and Yuki Toki preceding the finals in the main event. And just like with Doi vs. Jack, Tachibana and Toki have never competed in singles action either, with Toki on the winning side of two trios matches over the past couple months.

Elsewhere on the card, ZERO1 will bring back Katsuhiko Nakajima, who has been in Europe for the past couple of weeks competing in wXw, RevPro, and more, as he takes on young wunderkind Ryunosuke Nagai, the new tag team between Hayabusa and Koji Doi will battle CIMA and Quiet Storm, Junya Matsunaga will pair off with Daichi Hashimoto against Chris Weiss and Shreddy, and there will also be a six-man tag team match.

As one tournament ends, another is set to start, as NOAH has announced the lineup for the Jr. Grand Prix 2 which begins next month. You can read more about that here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the Tenkaichi Junior Final as soon as we hear more.