I finished writing this seconds before the news about Atsushi Aoki broke out on Twitter and wasn’t sure if I should even be posting this anymore. Aoki was a supremely gifted wrestler and from all accounts seemed like an awesome dude. Decided to go ahead with the review because Aoki loved All Japan and I guess this is my dumb way to support the company and say thank you. RIP.
Dan Tamura vs. Atsuki Aoyagi
I love that All Japan allows their young boys to wear a single color. Tamura and Aoyagi became instantly memorable to me by sporting blue and red, showing off PURE DOUBLE DRAGON ENERGY shades of Billy and Jimmy. These kids were so angry at themselves for messing up a leap frog spot that they instantly self-disciplined by pounding the living hell out of each other. Come on guys, it wasn’t that bad. Aoyagi has some nice dropkicks and I’m loving Dan the man’s KARELIN LIFT. **1/4
TAJIRI, Atsushi Maruyama & Otokosakari vs. Takao Omori, Black Menso-re & Buffalo
One of the coolest things about this company is that they are very loose with their roster, which means it’s totally normal for motherfucking BLACK BUFFALO and overweight Alexander Otsuka in a thong to appear on some undercard 6-man out of nowhere. This match was pure fuckery but it was also great. TAJIRI sold the sheer disgust of teaming with Otokosakari like a true pro, only tagging him with his foot. The career trajectory of Otsuka will never cease to amaze me. *3/4
Atsushi Aoki, Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada vs. Jake Lee, Koji Iwamoto & Nobe Bryant
This had plenty of good stuff going for it for a throwaway house show multiman tag: Aoki and Sato practicing their double team spots for the junior tag league, Bryant continuing to impress and pulling off a beyond-sweet scissors kick, and that little spitfire Okada getting all up in everyone’s faces only to get absolutely GIANT KNEE’D to death by Jake and then JUDO THROWN into oblivion by Iwamoto. Dude got SWEPT. **3/4
Kento Miyahara, Yoshitatsu & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Zeus, Gianni Valetta & Naoya Nomura
Some high quality House Show Kento for all of you Zen Nihon heads out there. Who needs a bunch of Blackouts and German suplexes when you can troll Wada for an entire match and have some posing contests with Zeus? I was also very into Kento threatening to walk out due to the lack of KEN-TO chants. Petty as fuck. A true Triple Crown champion. **1/2
Jun Akiyama & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Jiro ‘’Ikemen’’ Kuroshio
Time to lay down some truth on y’all: this was my first ever Ikemen match. And it was a fine first impression! His thigh-slapping indie-ISM kinda clashed with the old school approach of the other guys, but he’s a lot of fun and his gimmick is pretty much undeniable. He was the ideal Ricky Morton for this match, getting destroyed by grumpy Uncle Jun and Sekimoto to set-up the Funaki hot tag run of old man shootiness.
Funaki’s still got it, man. This old fuck will kick the shit out of you and cause you great pain. Akiyama and Sekimoto pulling out the EXPLODER/GERMAN SUPLEX COMBO OF DEATH was truly a sight to behold, as was Ikemen using a god damned DELFIN CLUTCH~! in 2019. Seemed to me like Big Daisuke and Ikemen weren’t always on the same page, but they came through for the finish and BUDDY, this was some fine wrestling. ***1/2
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa © vs. Joe Doering & Dylan James – AJPW World Tag Team Titles
Here’s a match where the work was actively solid across the board but still couldn’t quite overcome a dead crowd that flattened every ounce of potential drama. A real shame because this had everything you’d want from a battle between these two teams. 100% beef was served: chops, lariats, shoulderblocks – the whole menu.
James sold an Ishikawa double stomp like his stomach had been ripped open and Doering took out some fools with his murderous leaping cross body. Lots of great little things all over the place. The pace was a little monotonous and there was some clunkiness between Suwama and James, but I still think this would have been received a lot better in Korakuen. ***1/4
