Daichi Hashimoto vs. Joel Redman – Champion Carnival (Block B)
Look at Joel Redman winning over the crowd with his Respectful Nice Guy energy. I expected nothing from this dude but he kinda won me over too with his decent knowledge of British wristlocks and Doug Williams-esque corner headstand. Daichi getting worked over for 80% of a match and selling is a much better formula than anything that involves Daichi on long stretches of offense. A very okay match overall and a good introduction for Redman. **3/4
Dylan James vs. Ryouji Sai – Champion Carnival (Block A)
Sai looks like a high-level Beyblade master with that insane jacket. I’m usually a fan of James but him doing a leg work match might not have been the best option here. The guy looked bored out of his mind just lifelessly stalking Sai and stomping away at his leg. That being said, Sai showed what a true pro he was and reaaaaally tried to make it work by selling his ass off and working in some fun comebacks.
Sai’s also an expert at getting turnbuckle and apron spots over by alarming the crowd and constantly telling them to get out of the way. Long story short, this was a match that reminded me that Ryouji Sai is a good pro-wrestler but that’s about it. **3/4
Yuji Okabayashi vs. Yuma Aoyagi – Champion Carnival (Block A)
PISSARI NOT DEAD! Never forget this. What a straight-up good time this match was. Aoyagi dropkicking right at the bell and nearly splattering that poor young boy trying to get rid of the streamers was the perfect way to start this match and both guys just kept it moving from there. Aoyagi using his quickness to avoid Okabayashi’s chops and lariats only to eventually run into inevitable destruction was a great story I could easily get behind.
Big Yuji using a basic Camel clutch as a finisher and making it look like the deadliest shit ever is one of the many reasons why he’s one of the best wrestlers around right now. Another reason is that his theme song would fit right into any Final Fight soundtrack. ***1/4
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Atsushi Aoki – Champion Carnival (Block A)
Really liked how they approached the David/Goliath dynamic in this one. Being Evolution stablemates, they initially played the size difference for laughs but then shit got gradually more serious as Ishikawa started tossing Aoki around like a rag doll while trying his hardest to break his god damned back. Huge props to young Yusuke Okada at ring-side who added a lot to the action by getting OUTRAGED at Ishikawa for ravaging poor Aoki.
Loved how perilous Aoki made his comebacks look, further destroying his own back with missile dropkicks to desperately get some damage done on Big Shuji. You gotta love when wrestling just makes sense, and this was a whole lot of that. ***1/2
Naoya Nomura vs. Takashi Yoshida – Champion Carnival (Block B)
NOMURAMANIA is running wild, brother. Another strong performance from this well-behaved lad against a Yoshida that went FULL HEEL and showed a lot more promise than in his match with Daichi. Yoshida’s heel shtick felt down right Memphis-esque in how deliberate it all was. The constant trash talk, the choking and eyerake spots. The man busted out a FIST DROP, for Christ’s sake.
Not the most revolutionary shit ever, but it played right into Lil Naoya’s strengths as a natural babyface and the crowd was right there for it. They pulled off some big time near-falls for the finish and Yoshida’s late match offense looked down right devastating. Only minor nitpick would be that Nomura should be using that gnarly Northern Lights Bomb as a finish. Looks a lot better than the Maximum. ***3/4
