Recently, it was announced that New Wave would be fielding a team at Kazushi Sakuraba’s Quintet event in Japan. This is a team-based grappling event that adds a different dynamic compared to the regular competition format. However, after weeks of speculation – team New Wave dropped out, despite not mentioning why.
As a result, many fans called for B-Team to step in to replace them, and this is what has just happened. Craig Jones announced the news on his Instagram and confirmed it in a Reddit thread, writing, “You can never let down the legend Sakuraba.”
Interestingly, it won’t be Jones’s first Quintet outing, and he is traveling with his teammates Nicky Ryan, Jozef Chen, and the Rodriguez brothers. As you may have figured, this is a pretty stacked team to say the least, and as a result it is probably the favorite to win the tournament. In the promotional clip, the team appeared in Chicago Bulls jersey’s which was seemingly a dig at the team’s rival, Gordon Ryan.
On a separate note, it would be interesting to see exactly why New Wave decided to drop out. Online, some have claimed that John Danaher pulled the plug after not being happy with the competitors. However, this is pure speculation at this point and it may well have been that key members got injured or something similar.
Nonetheless, fans will be pleased to watch Quintet which is set to take place on September 10th.
