Dan Tamura vs. Atsuki Aoyagi – Asunaro Cup
As much as I enjoy first wave punk rock, Young Daniel Tamura is looking a lot more handsome with the hair down – I approve of this look. I also approve of this match, a solid kickoff to All Japan’s revived young boy tournament that saw Tamura’s brute strikes clashing with Aoyagi’s graceful dropkicks. Both guys have the basics down at this point and are starting to show glimpses of new offense: Dan sticking with the classics (big lariat and Schmidt backbreaker) and Aoyagi looking to widen his high flying range (Tornillo plancha and backspring forearm!?!). You can tell little Atsuki is itching to do some wild shit but probably restrains himself out of fear Masanobu Fuchi will slap him upside the head for disrespecting years of dojo traditions. **1/2
Hokuto Omori vs. Rising HAYATO – Asunaro Cup
Good to see HAYATO resurfacing from pandemic non-existence – he was starting to show promise earlier this year as an undercard fixture. Also need to mention that all the dojo kids have their own themes now, which is a welcome change from the generic 70’s AJPW disco tracks. Omori seemed to be experimenting with his personality here, projecting more and trying out a bunch of funky poses. The posing was mostly awkward due to the lack of crowd, but I DO appreciate the thought process. Both guys brought the fire, angrily bashing each other in the face for your viewing pleasure. I dig HAYATO’s Chris Jericho springboard dropkick but twice per match might be too much? **1/2
Takao Omori & Black Menso-re vs. Zeus & UTAMARO
Undercard legend UTAMARO completely changed his look since the last time he popped on an AJPW show. Dude is barely recognizable, but at least he fits the Purple Haze color scheme now. The match followed the Good Purple Haze template (attack before the bell, beat the shit out of people) rather than the Bad Purple Haze template (non-stop interference and run-ins), therefore I am eternally grateful to whoever booked this. A bunch of harmless wrestling with Zeus taking heads off and UTAMARO crushing poor Omori with a big tope. **1/4
Yoshitatsu & Seigo Tachibana vs. Yuma Aoyagi & TAJIRI
Tachibana is the true hero of midcard quarantine wrestling, popping up in both AJPW and DDT and essentially getting over by crouching and making dirtbag faces. No need for bumps, holds or any of this bullshit. You could tell TAJIRI shared my fascination with Seigo’s shtick as he spent a lot of time playing around with him. Not much else to write home about – match was fine for what it was. **
Kento Miyahara, Jiro Ikemen Kuroshio & Francesco Akira vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada
A lot to process here. Hints of of faction realignment all over the place with a grumpy Okada (conspicuously absent from the pre-match interview) not working well with his Evolution teammates and Kento/Ikemen/Akira officially announcing their intent to form a new unit after the match. Even with the forced detour into empty arena wrestling, there’s just so much more STUFF happening in All Japan this year. The Kento/Ikemen dynamic is endless comedy gold and gives Miyahara something to do while away from the title: win/win situation all around. Plus, Akira keeps getting the rub by hanging out with these guys. Him busting the Tarantula as homage to his mentor TAJIRI was a nice touch. **1/2
Koji Iwamoto vs. Yusuke Kodama – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title #1 Contender
Well-structured match that played to both guys’ strengths and told a complete story even without a crowd. As shown previously in his match with Francesco Akira, Kodama excels at getting his character across through plain old professional wrestling. He’s a sneaky little goth bastard and the way he controls the action perfectly reflects that Sneaky Goth-ISM. Taking heelish shortcuts, going after the ribs, smartly cutting off comebacks. The guy is good. Iwamoto wasn’t exactly going out of his way to put over the damaged ribs, but he did a good job picking his spots and firing back with combustible bursts of offense.
I also need to point out how much of an asset Nikkan Lee is to these empty arena matches. Her spontaneous reactions fill in a lot of the empty space and really help adding drama to these matches. Good stuff all around – very curious to see what happens next with Kodama. They’ve established him through both the Enfants Terribles invasion and his weirdo partnership with Menso-re. Hoping he sticks around permanently. ***1/4
Jake Lee vs. Kuma Arashi
Another pretty sound match with Jake having to switch up his game to adapt to Kuma’s HEELISH CORPULENCE. Particularly dug the leap frog sequence and agile schoolboy out of the corner – two rare spots for the Gentleman Shooter. I also feel like Jake’s come along nicely since the last title match with Kento in January, presentation-wise. He has a bit more of an aura and he’s coming across like a credible uppercarder. On the other side of the ring, Arashi’s heel shtick seemed a bit cartoony at times, but his power offense was undeniable. Holy shit at that leaping cross body! Liked how fast the finish came once Jake figured his way around Kuma’s power advantage. ***
Suwama © vs. Shotaro Ashino – Triple Crown
It kills me that they didn’t wait to run this in front of fans, because with a molten Korakuen crowd, this would’ve eclipsed Suwama/Kento and would rank extremely high on my imaginary Excel spreadsheet. To be fair, the young boys and AJPW crew at ring side did their best to give the match a big title fight atmosphere and I had a pretty great fucking time nonetheless.
My big question going in was how they were going to handle the size difference, because as badass as Ashino is, he looks like a junior heavyweight next to Big Wama. They answered that right off the bat by having Ashino go hold for hold with Suwama on the mat, establishing his technical know-how before launching into the main plot of the match: Ashino cutting off Wama’s power/size advantage by taking out his leg.
Good call from Shuji Ishikawa on commentary, noting that Muto-ISM runs through Ashino’s DNA. Muto-ISM was a great way to approach the match and Suwama’s competent leg selling quickly turned the challenger into a serious threat. I’m always in awe of Ashino’s relentless ankle lock onslaughts, but here I was even more impressed by how he carried himself as a star and brought the fight in strike exchanges. The striking soon gave way to a one-way trip straight to BOMBS CITY, both dudes just destroying each other with every suplex variation in the book.
The great thing about Suwama ending stretches is that this man has such a deep arsenal of death moves that even stuff like his rolling lariat or Ode to Jumbo Tsuruta dropkick get match-ending heat. It worked in this empty arena setting too, thanks to Dan Tamura and Hokuto Omori losing their god damned minds at ring-side. Even if he didn’t pull the miracle upset, Ashino came across as indestructible in these last minutes, kicking out of (almost) everything Big Wama threw at him. That’s my biggest takeaway here: this match and all the empty arena build-up tags have created a new bonafide main event player for AJPW. Something that the company’s been needing for a while. ****1/4
