9/18/19
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Taishi Takizawa – Oudou Tournament (Round 2)
Here’s a match that completely took me by surprise, probably because Takizawa didn’t get a chance to show much in his first round match and I’m completely unfamiliar with his 2AW/K-Dojo work. Turns out he more than held his own in this extremely well laid-out mini-banger that saw him try to rip out Ishikawa’s arm after an overly ambitious surprise attack led to him getting forearmed straight into oblivion. Ishikawa sold really well and the whole arm work story gave them a logical reason to work a fairly even match, allowing Takizawa to shine and get over with the super receptive Shin Kiba crowd.
Loved how the injury came back into play later in the match with Takizawa going back to submissions in order to stop Big Shuj from making his penultimate comeback. Takizawa also got to show his Zen Nihon Warrior toughness in a bunch of hard-hitting strike exchanges, making a strong case for himself as a potential participant in next year’s Champ Carnival. The big juicy near-falls near the end were the icing on the cake – I LIKED ALL OF THIS! ***3/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Jiro Ikemen Kuroshio – Oudou Tournament (Round 2)
There’s been more epic Kento matches this year, but this might’ve been the most straight-up fun one. I’m talking big dumb pro-wrestling fun in its purest form. Two guys with larger than life personalities working a total crowd pleaser that made Ikemen look like a superstar. Kento went into full heel mode after realizing he was facing someone even more obnoxious than himself and Ikemen seized every opportunity to shine and pop the crowd. Sparkly kip up comebacks everywhere, big-time dives and high spots – just great stuff all around from this jacket enthusiast.
Quick sidenote: Kento’s psychotic face before he unleashes the Enzui Blackout/Release German/Blackout sequence might be my favorite visual in wrestling. But Kuroshio was eager to top all of this with the mother of all Marufuji-esque superkick combos, back-to-back Moonsaults AND THE GOD DAMNED DELFIN CLUTCH~! This also had the cleverest Shutdown German suplex finish of the year. Do not sleep on this. The post-match party with both dudes working the crowd was as good as the match itself. All Japan should run Shin Kiba more often. Perfect venue for them with passionate crowds and decent lighting. ****
9/22
Jake Lee vs. KAI – Oudou Tournament (Round 2)
Moving on to a match that went from pretty good to fucking great when KAI decided to destroy Jake’s knee with a brutal dragon screw off the apron followed by a Keiji Muto Puroresu Love pose. My god, I was into this professional wrestling match. KAI held this thing together like an absolute pro: working the frigid Osaka crowd into making actual noise and getting them invested into Underdog Jake Lee. Jake sold the leg like a champ, and speaking of his leg: I must command him for his very smart use of thigh-slapping sound effects.
This guy uses thigh-slaps only to enhance certain strikes but lets his feet do the talking when it’s time to cave in someone’s chest with middle kicks. Truly excellent audio engineering from the Gentleman Shooter Jake Lee. Also, just how good is KAI? This man seems to blend all major Zen Nihon eras by mixing Muto-ISM tribute spots with Toshiaki Kawada no-look enzuigiris and sliding pin Powerbombs. A1 chemistry between these guys and KAI looked real proud of Jake during the post-match collapse selling. Understandable! ****
Zeus vs. Naoya Nomura – Oudou Tournament (Round 2)
A pretty darn good match that suffered from me fantasy booking it completely differently in my head. I mean, it almost went the way I was hoping for – with Zeus establishing his power advantage right off the bat and tossing Nomura all over. But then Lil Naoya quickly went on to dominate for an extended period…? Just casually working over actual Olympian God Zeus without much heat? Definitely not my ideal layout for a professional wrestling match between these two but it all picked up like crazy once they got past the halfway point.
Much appreciated the all-out war between Nomura’s spears and Zeus’ lariats + all the back and forth deadlift suplex exchanges. These boys worked some nuclear-level near-falls during the ending stretch and I absolutely lost my shit for the Maximum kickout. Incredibly well-timed. I was kinda bummed to see Nomura lose here, but he did look super strong in defeat. A bit uneven, but parts of this were pretty great. As it is often the case with All Japan, it probably would’ve worked better in Korakuen. ***3/4
