Izanagi & UTAMARO vs. Dan Tamura & Masayuki Mitomi
Maruyama has already morphed into a full-on masked heel shades of his Evil Tigers Mask run in Osaka Pro and I’m digging it. This man will not only gouge out your eyes without hesitation but he will also kick the ever loving shit out of young Daniel Tamura for your viewing pleasure. I’ve been having UTAMARO’s back in every Captain Lou Review so far due to his sweet entrance gear, but if I see one more botched headscissors spot from this man I might change my tune. **
Jun Akiyama, Masanobu Fuchi, Osamu Nishimura & Rising HAYATO vs. Takao Omori, Hokuto Omori, Atsuki Aoyagi & SUSHI
Just now realizing that I didn’t really touch on Rising HAYATO in my last review. He’s an Ehime Pro youngster (home promotion of the legendary Carbell Ito) that’s getting a shot at the All Japan dojo and little Atsuki Aoyagi absolutely hates his guts. He was actually involved in the two best spots of the match: getting into an angsty young boy scuffle with Aoyagi and then providing a MUCH NEEDED lower back massage to Fuchi after old Masa broke his own back performing a body slam. **
Zeus, Naoya Nomura, Yoshitatsu & KAI vs. Yuma Aoyagi, Ryouji Sai, Danny Jones & Ayato Yoshida
The ‘’A QUITTER NEVER WINS’’ print on the back of Yoshida’s tights is truly high-level philosophical shit and has me rethinking all of my life choices. Man, there was a lot to like here. The crowd was red hot for any Nomura/Yoshida interactions, teenage giant Danny Jones got to show off a lot more than on yesterday’s show and Aoyagi/Zeus worked one hell of a finish that could mean a lot great things for the boy Yuma Aoyagi. Also, kudos to the commentary team for dropping the absolutely wild reminder that Yoshitatsu (as young lion GOAT NaoYama) and Ryouji Sai once wrestled in a Tokyo Dome opener in 2006. A whole lot of fun. ***
Koji Iwamoto, Fuminori Abe & Francesco Akira vs. Black Menso-re, Kagetora & Masahiro Takanashi
I know the main goal of this match was to put Akira over, but I came out of it wanting a Kagetora/Abe singles match ASAP. Unreal chemistry between these two and I cannot give enough props to Abe’s endlessly-rewindable dragon screw spots. Everything else sort of blended together as perfectly acceptable professional wrestling. **3/4
Shuji Ishikawa & Yusuke Okada vs. Shigehiro Irie & Lucas Steel
Another well worked Kami No Gundan tag that got newcomer Lucas Steel over as a serious threat and showed off the casual awesomeness of big boy Irie. Okada always plays a great babyface in peril and this was no exception. Him trying to take down his thick-boned opposition got a lot of sympathy from the crowd and built up tons of heat for the Big Shuj Knight hot tag of greatness. Despite looking quite young, Steel seems to have a good grasp on big man wrestling mechanics – an extremely useful skill to have in modern day All Japan. ***
Hikaru Sato vs. Susumu Yokosuka – AJPW Jr Heavyweight Title Tournament (Finals)
Susumu might be an outsider, but the AJPW junior heavyweight scene fits him like a glove. He has the same quiet charisma and technical know-how as the division’s major players but brings the fresh, pent-up energy of someone who’s been doing the Natural Vibes dance for too long and just wants to lariat the shit out of people. I am here for it and I was there for this ridiculously-tight Shooter vs. Technician Double Limb Work DEATH MATCH. Susumu went full Dragon system but bypassed Ultimo and went straight for Fujinami with a gnarly dragon screw rampage to counter Sato’s thirst for a broken arm and it was great!
Both guys sold their asses off and worked a bunch of super compelling cross armbreaker struggle segments with Sato trying his best to grapplefuck his way to victory. The ending stretch felt very much like a statement on the Power of Susumu with the dude just unloading on Sato: a SHOOT HEADBUTT, ode to Kobashi Half-nelson suplex, a fucking enzui Jumbo No Kachi that nearly decapitated All Japan’s resident open shoe enthusiast. God damn. The confident post-match promo from Yokosuka was the icing on the cake: I loved all of this and the Susumu title reign has me buzzing. ****
Kento Miyahara © vs. Jake Lee – Triple Crown
An extremely strong match that couldn’t quite live up to the excitement of their previous encounter, but still delivered in spades. Felt like Jake was struggling to maintain a credible main eventer aura through some of the slower parts of the match, especially compared to Kento who was on fire and gave the crowd a shitload of memorable character moments. Nitpicking aside, this nailed the same big fight feel of their 2019 matches and Kento nearly exposed Jake Lee’s Gentleman Dick during one of the Shutdown struggles – what more do you need from All Japan Pro-Wrestling?
The main thing this rivalry has going for it is the sheer amount of hatred both guys bring to the table. Charisma issues or not, Jake was smart enough to ramp up the assholery and respond to Miyahara’s psycho headbutts by kicking the absolute dogshit out of him. All the extended beatdown segments on the floor were a total blast and Jake seemed to be packing some extra heat behind those kicks for the occasion.
Lost it for the apron Piledriver spot and that amazing sequence where Kento no-sold the PK and furiously got into Jake’s face. World shattering ACE ENERGY. The ending stretch was really well put together but didn’t match my weirdo head-canon expectations. I kinda wanted them to play off the Shutdown German suplex kickout from the last match and head into new territory but helas, it wasn’t meant to be. I bitch about the details because of how invested I am in this STOP THE KENTO reign. It’s coming from a place of love and there was a lot to love about this match. ****1/4
The Yuma heel (?) turn and the hilarious Kento promo that followed were note perfect. Bravo. After a fairly bare 2019 (in terms of booking and storyline progression), things are finally moving and these two Korakuen shows hinted at a ton of cool shit for the new year. Kami No Gundan shaking up the undercard, Susumu Yokosuka as junior champ, Aoyagi turning on Kento, Sweeper turning into Jin. If you’ve ever been curious about modern AJPW, now seems like a perfect time to join the fun.
