Kaz Hayashi vs. Hajime
If Hayashi were to shave his head right now, he could work a perfect Mutocito gimmick. His goatee is of the highest quality and he’s finally developed a dadbod ample enough to contain the flow of pro-wres love. Meanwhile, Hajime came off as a generic midcard babyface and seeing him get so much flat offense on Old Man Hayashi was weird. Only 5 minutes long, but I still wasn’t into it. *3/4
Ryuji Hijikata, Ganseki Tanaka & Ryuki Honda vs. SUSHI, Kai Fujimura & Takuro Niki
Maybe I’m just a sucker for Hijikata slapping the shit out of young boys, but this one worked a lot better for me. Everything moved along nicely and the youngsters were all able to get over. Even SUSHI had his working boots on, and by that I mean he did a spinning heel kick. Tanaka needs to watch more Koji Iwamoto matches because his judo throw finish isn’t quite there yet. **1/4
Masayuki Kono, Alejandro & Yusuke Kodama vs. Jun Honsho, El Hijo Del Pantera & Koji Takeda
Fast-paced midcard sprint action. Alejandro trying very hard to expose Takeda’s butt. Nice little triple dive spot. Kono’s giant ass cleaning house with jumping knees had strong Jumbo Tsuruta energy. **1/2
Daiki Inaba & Koji Doi vs. Masato Tanaka & Pegaso Elluminaro vs. Shigehiro Irie & Seiki Yoshika– 3-Way Tag Match
An even SPRINTIER sprint, and a really good one at that. Straight to the point, fast-paced, big spots from everyone. Yoshioka stealing the show with his high-precision kicks and gorgeous Quebrada. Big 4 man stereo Superplex/Powerbomb car crash spot. Pegaso jumping in whenever you least expect him. Inaba is super flat but has one of the best finishers in THE BIZ. ***
Kuma Arashi vs. Cyrus
Beefy hoss fight with Kuma finding himself in the very rare position of fighting off an even bigger dude. Surprisingly effective underdog charisma from Kuma – the crowd reacting big time to all of his body slam struggles and other strength contests. Cyrus played his generic monster role well enough and the fans totally bought into his act. Loved the finish: Arashi having to hit a normal senton, 2nd-rope senton and DICKMANIA-STYLE senton bomb off the top for the win. Hell yes. ***
Shuji Kondo & Seigo Tachibana vs. Takanori Ito & MAZADA
I was nodding off pretty hard during this match but I somewhat remember enjoying Tachibana as a babyface in peril and Ito as an effective heel in big shiny pants. Also remember a lot of dastardly choking spots from MAZADA, I think? Pretty sure there was a sweet Lanzarse from Kondo. Trust me, I’ll do a better job on the next two matches. **1/4
Andy Wu vs. Heat – WRESTLE-1 FES Cruiserweight Tournament Finals
It blows my mind that there are so many pockets of the deep Pure-O scene dedicated to 2003 NJPW revivalism. Kazuyuki Fujita working a main event program in NOAH, Big Yoshie and Osamu Nishimura slumming it on the AJPW undercards and now your ideal husband Minoru Tanaka bringing back the legendary Heat gimmick in WRESTLE-1. Somewhere in a max security British prison, Stuart Max approves of all this while plotting his revenge on various soccer websites.
As for this match, it totally worked for me as a Minoru Tanaka leg work special. Tanaka’s not the guy to go to for emotionally-fulfilling wrestling odysseys, but he’s a seasoned pro with a good mind for match structure. This was mostly him working over young Andrew Wu, cutting him off at every corner and feeding him some fun comebacks once in a while. I actually dug how one-sided it was, as we have enough Even Steven wrasslin’ matches nowadays. Also, bonus points for using the sweet Minoru Tanaka Flipping Legbar as an actual finish. ***1/4
Katsuhiko Nakajima © vs. Shotaro Ashino – WRESTLE-1 Heavyweight Title
WRESTLE-1 really picked the worst possible time to book this Nakajima title run but I don’t care. End times or not, this storyline is Japanese wrestling at its finest. Classic invader heel angle + the 2017 Naito Hates The IC title story from NJPW = nothing less than pure drama. Look, I love the AXIZ bromance as much as everyone, but full psycho heel Nakajima is the Best Nakajima.
They structured the match in a way to turn the heel champ into such a ridiculously dominant force: Nakajimmy on offense 75% of the time, dodging strikes with ease and stiffing the hell out of the local hero while shit-talking the entire W-1 roster at ring-side. My god. The lack of classic back and forth structure made the Ashino comebacks so much more enthralling, the guy just desperately grabbing on to every ankle lock and German suplex.
The ending stretch lost a tiny bit of steam for me (Nakajima’s front/back soccer kick combo coming in so late in the match seemed odd) but that’s my only complaint. Wild atmosphere with a crystal clear heel/face dichotomy and a refreshing layout. The image of a bored Katsu sitting Indian style, waiting for the KO count after of series of murder Backdrops will stick with me for a while. ****1/4
