Hikaru Sato, Yusuke Okada & JR Kratos vs. Hokuto Omori, Tsugutaka Sato & Rising HAYATO
Can’t say this was the greatest first impression ever for the man known as JR Kratos. He has a cartoonish, 80s WWF hoss monster vibe that could probably work in AJPW if he’s willing to dial up the stiffness, but the amount of miscommunications and botches was a little alarming. As he usually is, Okada was the highlight here – he looked sharp playing up the hierarchical superiority against Hokuto. *3/4
Zeus, Izanagi & UTAMARO vs. Ayato Yoshida, Fuminori Abe & Tatsuya Hanami
The new classic rock theme and matching gear for Purple Haze (FKA Kami no Gundan) is filling me with rudo delight. You can tell that some re-education will be needed for the AJPW fanbase, because they seem completely unsure of how to react to all of the heel antics. And it’s understandable, considering there hasn’t been a faction like this in a while (maybe ever – but don’t quote me on this). Again, Yoshida came off as a superstar. Him standing up to the more-dangerous-than-ever HEEL ZEUS was pretty great. **1/4
Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto © vs. Takao Omori & Black Menso-re – All-Asia Tag-Team Titles
Talk about a match that went from perfectly fine to what the fuck is happening this shit is nuts in the space of a few minutes. They laid out most of the match around Menso-re getting appropriately murdered by Iwamoto (gnarly judo throw and apron neck screw on the floor) and then playing snakeman-in-peril to set up the very acceptable Omori hot tag and eventual back and forth professional wrestling with the Gentleman Warrior Jake Lee (now sporting some sort of Twitter-bait ponytail). But Iwamoto and Menso-re eventually went FULL DRAKE and took things from 0 to a 100 for the finish with the wildest ending stretch imaginable, packing in as many 2.9999 near-falls as possible to mega Korakuen heat. This is the midcard wrestling that I crave right here. ***1/4
Jun Akiyama, Manabu Nakanishi, Osamu Nishimura & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Yoshitatsu, Ryouji Sai, TAJIRI & Dan Tamura
The kind of match that made me think Manabu should have spent more time in AJPW in the last years. Perfect fit for these old man midcard tags and seeing him alongside his former NJPW compatriots was awesome. Him and punky rooster Daniel Tamura were an unexpectedly strong pairing too: holy shit Dan busting out his own version of the YAJIN DANCE much to the amusement of Uncle Jun on the apron. The savvy AJPW commentator dropping a G-EGGS reference in the midst of all this was inspired as fuck. **3/4
Susumu Yokosuka © vs. Francesco Akira – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
Up until this match, I was very much living in doubt when it comes to Francesco Akira. Is this prepubescent aerialist with AEW Dynamite-ready high spots a good fit for AJPW? Well, I’m happy to report that I’m now a card-carrying member of the Akira Army (Akirarmy?). Guided by Susumu’s ever-reliable veteran hand, the Italian child warrior put in a performance strong enough to erase all of my concerns. The kid was radiating pure babyface energy: selling, bumping, reaching out for crowd support at all the right times. Obviously, it didn’t hurt having an expert catcher like Susumu in there to make all of his tricked out offense look like a million bucks.
I was honestly blown away by the usually-silly Quesadora double stomp looking completely legit and had to pick my jaw off the floor after that crazy-ass apron Sling Blade. Susumu supplying an endless array of brutal Jumbo No Kachi’s and taking SUWA-level rana bumps was all I needed from him here. Absurdly fun match that hit all the right notes and put Akira over as a proper title contender. ***3/4
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa © vs. Shigehiro Irie & Lucas Steele – AJPW Tag Team Titles
Everything I previously said about the AJPW crowds needing some time to adapt to the Purple Haze heel shenanigans was even more apparent here. These fine folks are not used to New Japan style faction run-in-heavy booking and they did not take too kindly to all of the interference in this match. It’s a shame things played out that way, because the early action between Ishikawa and Irie was hugely promising: serious beef rampage and I’m already salivating at the possibility of a Champ Carnival singles match between the two. The ending stretch between Suwama and Steele was fine hoss wrasslin’ but it all came off a bit flat due to the crowd deflating after the GEDO PRODUCTION segment. I’m all for Purple Haze shaking up the cards, but whoever is booking this will have to thread carefully with the run-in influx. **3/4
Kento Miyahara © vs. Yuma Aoyagi – Triple Crown
If you can look past Aoyagi not quite delivering the status-quo shattering performance that was advertised in the violence-filled buildup to this match, this was pretty swell. They played the familiarity card really well and added enough new twists to Kento’s formula to make this a worthy Triple Crown main event. Aoyagi going after the arm and coming up with fresh counters to Kento’s German suplex/Blackout barrage were fun tropes that landed right on the money, especially coupled with Kento’s shockingly consistent arm selling.
Now, despite the new gear and rock-solid ring work, Yuma still didn’t feel to me like he was on Kento’s level here. It took him about half the match to show any signs of personality, and when he did, it seemed to be more of the same midcard Goofball Yuma rather than the Main Event Kento Nemesis Yuma that was teased in the last months. Not gonna lie – the spanking spot did crack me up, even if the tonal inconsistency was a little jarring. Wasn’t sure about the Muta ninja pose right after he landed his spin kick of death though.
Other things to like here: Aoyagi’s beautiful Japanese legroll clutch into Endgame transition, the absurdly-brutal Blackout out of the Rockstar buster and Kento bringing back his old Break Heart finisher. As was the case with the Kento/Jake Lee feud, the next Aoyagi/Kento matches will likely expand upon this one and reach frivolous new heights. Still, a pretty darn solid wrestling match. ****
