Possibly the greatest cold open of all time: Bodyguard (with crutch) singing his heart out in the ring. That’s what pro-wrestling is all about, baby. Get well soon, big man.
Hikaru Sato, Francesco Akira & Shoichi Ushida vs. Eisa8, Masayuki Mitomi & Hokuto Omori
The AJPW Osaka shows never fail to bring out the riff raff and as an appreciator of the Japanese indie sleaze, I love seeing guys like Mitomi and Eisa8 pop up randomly. Beyond the sleaze appeal, Mitomi was actually legit quite good here. The Mongolian chops were on point and he pulled a tricked out spot where he made two guys basically dragon screw each other. I’d have no problems with this dude getting a permanent lower-midcard spot. Actually, outside of Ushida (who seemed to be in rough shape), everyone brought their A-game and made this a fun opener. **3/4
Jun Akiyama & Rising HAYATO vs. Takao Omori & Black Menso-re
This was the best I’ve seen HAYATO look since he started getting AJPW bookings. Once the match moved past the obligatory Akiyama Slams Menso-re On The Floor sequence (it simply cannot be avoided), the focus shifted to Omori/HAYATO and that’s when it all started clicking. Fighting from underneath/selling/making fighting spirit faces was a good look for the Ehime Pro youngster. I was also a big fan of HAYATO trying to impress Uncle Jun by going for his own floor bodyslam only for it to backfire spectacularly. **3/4
JR Kratos & Dan Tamura vs. Daimonji So & Kyosuke Ikaho
I have no idea where Ikaho’s from, but he looks like a long lost third Brahman Brother. Which means he has some hair issues. Daimonji hails from Ryouji Sai’s world-renowned Land’s End, and he seems allright? Whole match was allright. Kratos’ performance here was much better than the one at Korakuen, but he still kinda comes across as a generic hoss guy. In other news, punky rooster Daniel Tamura has absorbed the Manabu Nakanishi YAJIN DANCE and I couldn’t be more delighted. **1/4
Yoshitatsu © vs. GAINA – GAORA TV Title
They really tried to make it work but this was still pretty rough. Yoshitatsu attempted to capitalize on GAINA’s hometown babyface energy by working heel-ish, which makes sense, except Yoshi’s idea of heel work is rest holds and an all-time terrible facewash. I hope Shinjiro Otani never has to see this. I was into GAINA’s comeback for a while – can’t go wrong with beefy lariats and Powerbombs, really. But then it all came crumbling down for the finish when big boy GAINA started missing his cues and seemed to have no idea how to take Yoshitatsu’s finish (Codebreaker off the top). Can’t help but be amused by this endlessly terrible WORLD FAMOUS title reign. **1/2
Jake Lee, Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe vs. Zeus, Lucas Steel & Izanagi
Probably the most effective Purple Haze outing to date. Solid heel work all around with the bad guys cutting the ring in half and tossing poor Abe all over the place. Also, love the visual of the entire unit running to the ring surrounded by Purple Haze banners and starting to brawl immediately. They might not work so well in big title matches, but interference spots are a decent fit for multiman matches like this and they were used judiciously here. By the end of the match, hometown boy Izanagi/Maruyama was getting some proper heel heat, so mission accomplished.***
Susumu Yokosuka © vs. Yusuke Okada – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
This Susumu title reign is the gift that keeps on giving. First the awesome title win against Sato, then the miracle match with Francesco Akira and now this. Another rocking match that played with similar ideas of dueling limb work as Susumu’s previous defenses but ramped up the brutality in a way that rightfully made Okada look like one of the toughest little bastards in this company.
Grumpy Blondie Yusuke Okada delivered what seemed like his best performance ever, hanging right in there with understated veteran genius Susumu and checking all of the big main event wrasslin’ boxes. He took a page from his Evolution bro Hikaru Sato’s playbook and tried to neutralize the Jumbo No Kachi arm, only for Susumu to respond in kind by trying to break his god damned neck and off to the races we went.
Ending stretch felt BIG and helped bring Okada to a whole new level. Him kicking out of Susumu’s biggest offense, taking a freakin’ shoot headbutt right in the face and then refusing to go down for the Jumbo No Kachi was a MOMENT! The build towards Okada’s backslide near fall was masterful and I loved how Okada got over with pretty much only rollup attempts and his diving headbutt. Okada’s time will come but right now I need more of these Susumu title defenses. ****
Kento Miyahara, Shuji Ishikawa & Ryouji Sai vs. Suwama, Shigehiro Irie & Yuma Aoyagi
This was billed as a Road to Champion Carnival skirmish, hence the complete blurring of faction alignments and drunken booking vibe. But the randomness of it all made for a fun house show main event where everyone got to shine for a bit. With their big title match coming up, the main focus was on Suwama/Miyahara, but we also got fun stuff from the other guys. Aoyagi still being salty over the breakup with Kento, a chunky VIOLENCE GIANTS COLLIDE portion, Sai soccer kicking the shit out of people and Irie being a human cannonball as usual. Nothing you’ll remember tomorrow, but it did what it had to do. **3/4
