Hokuto Omori & Tatsuya Hanami vs. Dan Tamura & Rising HAYATO
Look at these fiery pups just itching to beat each other up after sitting on the sidelines for a month. Atsuki Aoyagi’s injury is a real bummer but I’m loving 2AW’s Hanami as his undercard replacement. What a fun little ball of energy and hate that kid is. Him and Hokuto were playing up the tension from their last Shin Kiba match, bossing each other around and embracing the virtues of episodic storytelling. HAYATO’s Jericho-style springboard dropkick really isn’t quite there yet but I’m hoping he keeps at it. Meanwhile, the mere action of looking at the bridge on Omori’s German suplex finish led to me to book a chiropractor appointment. **1/2
Shuji Ishikawa, Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada vs. Black Menso-re, Francesco Akira & Tsugutaka Sato
The COVID-19 magic at it again with another seemingly throwaway undercard tag overdelivering. Okada and Akira with the super indie dream match level chain wrestling chemistry, Ishikawa making the usually-bland Tsugutaka Sato look like a million bucks, Menso-re unleashing the machinegun SHA-eyepokes. Wrestling was had and it was good. The ingenious build up towards Francesco’s big tope con hilo and the entire nail-biter of an ending sequence between him and Hikaru were homeruns. Hikaru’s BattlARTSian grapplefuck counters have always been a great source of joy for me but him reversing Francesco’s Quesadora foot stomp into an ankle lock was on another level. A real fun time at the matches. ***
Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori & Osamu Nishimura vs. Yoshitatsu, TAJIRI & Jinsei Shinzaki
Not much to write home about in terms of in-ring content, but very spiritually-fulfilling nonetheless. From Jinsei’s praying rope walk to Nishimura escaping a TAJIRI nerve hold by meditation – my faith in a higher power feels almost restored. Thank you middle-aged men of the All Japan-Pro Wrestling undercard for bringing me closer to God. *3/4
Zeus, KAI & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Ryouji Sai, Ayato Yoshida & Gianni Valletta – Road to Champion Carnival
A couple of notes on the man they call Zeus. His decision to now use the Purple Haze rock n’ roll theme instead of his previous abomination of a theme is one of the greatest life choices any human being has ever made. Also, him and Sexy Boy Ninja Ayato Yoshida seem ready for some beef, which makes me sad because they’re in separate Champ Carnival blocks. The match did its job as a chaotic mash-up of pre-tournament randomosity, but that’s about it. Yuma is still in this weird transition period where they gave him this full makeover and a big Kento feud but he still comes across as an aimless dork. Hopefully the Carnival sets him straight and fixes all of his issues. And mine too while we’re at it. **1/4
Susumu Yokosuka © vs. Izanagi – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
Remember what I recently said about the need for the AJPW booking team to thread carefully with the interference influx in Purple Haze matches? Well, it turns out the AJPW booking team aren’t avid Captain Lou readers and will be going in another direction. That’s right folks, this was All Japan putting their own spin on the infamous Bullet Club G1 Climax singles match template. Translation: it was not good.
The stacked deck layout gave Susumu a lot of babyface heat and brought about some juicy near-falls, but the non-stop the ball shots, ref bumps and run-ins made this feel more like a bad Taichi match than a proper AJPW Jr. title defense. Also, what the hell was Izanagi going for with that weird flippy hammerlock counter? Whatever – very hyped for the Susumu/Hikaru rematch. **3/4
Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto © vs. Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto – All-Asia Tag-Team Titles
I’ve mentioned it before, but non-death match Isami just doesn’t work for me. Everything the guy does looks low rent and he has this sleepy non-presence about him that just puts me off. The good news is that these fine All-Asia tag warriors took this negative and turned it into a positive, with Jake using his size advantage and Iwamoto unleashing his flawless execution to turn the Big Japan duo into proper underdogs.
Miyamoto is much more convincing in a non-hardcore setting than his partner, so they judiciously let him pop in for all the big comebacks while Isami got his ass kicked for a while. Great hot tag run from Miyamoto, what with the crowd-popping Moonsault-based offense and HARASHIMA-esque Somato. They did such a good job establishing Isami as an outclassed indie lifer that his victory genuinely shocked me. Team BJW as outsider underdog champs should bring some fun temporary variety to the midcard tag scene. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara © vs. Suwama – Triple Crown
My main criticism of recent Kento title defenses is that the younger opposition (namely Aoyagi and Jake Lee) rarely feels on the champion’s level. Obviously, this wasn’t the case with the Big Dog Suwama, a grumpy chunk of a man who was main eventing for All Japan while Kensuke Sasaki was still changing Kento’s diapers. I’m a big fan of the Miyahara/Suwama dynamic, which was brilliantly explored in the opening package that contrasted the young, cool-AF-suit wearing champion with the aging, Harley Davidson-riding challenger. Long story short: New Ace vs. Old Ace.
They played with the preconceived notion of Kento breaking Toshiaki Kawada’s title record, babyfaced the living hell out of Suwama and laid out the mother of all ending stretches to ensure critical mass in Korakuen. And it was great! The usual Kento tropes were augmented by a couple of fun new bits (The camera zoom on the front row fan’s ‘’NO WAY BRO!’’ face during the floor headbutts, Suwama keeping Kento from sneaking back in the ring) and both guys laid into each other like they were in a proper World title match.
Kento’s energy and facial expressions were on point (one star alone for his solemn ‘’…I’VE JUST KILLED A MAN’’ face after the apron Piledriver), but it was the escalation of Big Match Suwama offense of pure white hot death that brought this thing to another level. This double chopping, wheel-barrel suplexing son of a bitch took what was meant to be Kento’s crowning achievement and turned it into the unexpected return of Old Man Ace Suwama to thunderous crowd support.
Too many great moments to list, but Kento absorbing a shitload of short-range lariats and then cutting off a discus lariat with a high-precision Blackout has gotta be right up there. The JUMBO TSURUTA DROPKICK turning everything around for Suwama also brought a tear to my eye. Momentous performances from two guys who managed to sell the curviest of all curveball booking decisions through the sheer power of quality pro-wrestling. ****1/2
