Hijo De Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Kinya Okada
The Son of Wagner Jr. knows that nothing gets me in the mood for wrestling like a silky smooth R&B jam. Yeah buddy. An efficient squash with Wagner rudo’ing it up from Monday to Sunday and fishhooking poor Kinya to the point of busting his mouth open. Felt kinda bad for the kid but the luchadore did come across as a force to be reckoned with. **1/4
Kotaro Suzuki, Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway vs. HAYATA, Tadasuke & YO-HEY
Real fun, fast paced junior sprint with the RATELS personalities coming through big time. Tight chemistry between every pairing. Ridgeway stood out from the pack nicely with his shooty vibes and gets extra points for throwing YO-HEY’s bandana over his head (yes, I do condone bullying). Actually legit inventive finish with Kotoge rolling through YO-HEY’s double knee attack for a Styles Clash attempt only for HAYATA to SUPERKICK HIM BACK right into a YO-HEY Code Red basically SUCK IT AEW. ***
Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm vs. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue
Masao bringing a Destroyer mask to the ring feels totally right because you know he’s just as culturally significant as Dick Beyer. Perfectly fine NOAH Korakuen farewell for Quiet Storm – right amount of beef and Masao humor. **1/2
Daisuke Harada vs. Hajime Ohara – Global Junior League (Semi-Finals)
Need to point out that Harada’s theme would be the perfect soundtrack for a 90’s movie computer hacking scene. Here we go folks, we are now inside The Internet. Anyway, Hajime Ohara is always game to break someone’s back and Harada is here to sell, so this turned out to be the ideal union between two extremely-capable, under the radar wrestlers. Neither of them have the most vibrant personality ever, but they know exactly when to turn it up and reach for crowd support. Harada played a great underdog, giving a back selling masterclass and making the most out of his comebacks by mauling Ohara with simple yet uber-explosive offense. Head-ripping lariat, crowd-shattering jumping knee attack, that sweet knee upper spot. The whole nine yards, baby. Shoutout to Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, btw. They also pulled a believable near-fall off Ohara simply repeating basic cover attempts like 5 minutes into the match, so you know these guys are on to something. Well executed, well sold, well WRESTLED. ***3/4
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Dick Togo – Global Junior League (Semi-Finals)
These two crafty old vets put on a real mat wrestling clinic until the match ended out of nowhere but I was quite into it while it lasted. If I was a young wrestler, these are the guys that I would go to for advice. Togo-san, please teach me how to apply a Crippler Crossface out of a La Magistral kickout. Ogawa-san, please teach me how to pull off the zebra shorts and leather jacket combo well into my 50’s and also maybe teach me technical wrestling. I’ve thought about this a lot. I realized these men were made for each other when they started trading the always-weird-to-see-in-Japan 90’s WWE Fake Punches and I wish they had gotten more time to explore their artistry. ***
Naomichi Marufuji, Kaito Kiyomiya, Minoru Tanaka, Hitoshi Kumano & Junta Miyawaki vs. Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Haoh & Nioh
Jam-packed multiman tag with lots of fun subplots and intertwining mini beefs. It was also the first match of my 2020 NOWA plunge that got me invested in Haoh. The little guy getting destroyed by all of Sekigun turned him into an endearing figure, even if he’s meant to be a somewhat-villainous henchman for Kenoh. Elsewhere, Masa absorbing all of Marufuji’s best strikes and outbeefing him was a pleasant time, as was Kaito and Kenoh ripping it up with the kind of next-level chemistry you’ll only get from true frenemies. Speaking of Kenoh: he might be hit or miss in singles action, but he always comes across as a total badass in these multiman sprints. Loved seeing feisty Junta try to take him down for the finish only to get swiftly murdered. ***1/4
Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Takashi Sugiura, Kazuyuki Fujita & Hideki Suzuki
Shiozaki insisting on battling actual shoot fighting killing machine Kazuyuki Fujita with knife-edge chops ONLY is the most pro-wrestling thing I’ve ever seen and the mark of a true champion. This is a potentially genius first program for GHC champ Go and if they book it correctly (Go beating Fujita decisively), Shiozaki will be instantly cemented as a god damned hero. Which is what he deserves to be. Besides getting me seriously amped for Go/Fujita, this also had some very titillating exchanges between Katsu/Suzuki and Taniguchi proving his unflinching toughness by eating all of Sugiura-Gun’s hardest shots for your viewing pleasure. An extra layer of hair started growing on my chest as soon as the match ended. ***1/4
Daisuke Harada vs. Dick Togo – Global Junior League (Finals)
THIS MATCH! A proper tournament final that took all the tropes of a modern day epic wrestling match and somehow made all of them feel meaningful and refreshing all over again. They put together a brilliant layout that played off the two previous semi-finals with the Backbroken Harada trying to end the match as soon as possible only for wily veteran DICKMANIA to stop him dead in his tracks by destroying his leg. Like in the match with Ohara, Harada did an exemplary job selling the leg and thinking of all sorts of creative little nuggets to put over the injury (ONE-LEGGED GERMAN SUPLEX~!).
Meanwhile, I loved how Togo gradually switched his strategy as things progressed, using the leg work not so much as a match ender, but as a way to position Harada for his real signature spots. Harada slowly overcoming Togo’s onslaught of leg submissions, Pedigrees and sentons by straight forearm’ing the shit out of his stomach was one of the most compelling comebacks I’ve seen all year and built up perfectly towards Daisuke’s nasty-looking Powerbomb/Go 2 sleep combo of death. Liked everything about this – the kind of match that should convert a lot of people into Haradamaniacs while exposing newer fans to the greatness of Dick Togo. ****1/4
