Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Rising HAYATO – Asunaro Cup
Fans are finally back in Shin Kiba 1st RING, decked out in masks and face visors to witness half naked men wrestle professionally. Even if they’re limited to clapping only, their level of dedication warms my cold dead heart. Aoyagi and HAYATO had a loose but fun match to welcome back the people to All Japan Pro-Wrestling, mixing young boy basics with eager high flying pleasantries. The action felt a bit more tentative than what I’ve grown accustomed to from these kids in recent times, but it still worked as an opening match between fiery dropkick-throwing young men. Aoyagi had a particularly good showing in this Asunaro Cup and looks ready to add some flips to the junior division. **
Suwama, Shuji Ishikawa, Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada vs. Jake Lee, Koji Iwamoto, Ayato Yoshida & Fuminori Abe
The first full scale JIN outing (sans the injured Naoya Nomura) since COVID hit Japan and it was a real solid time. All Japan know how to do midcard wrestling properly as matches like this never overstay their welcome but also give you random bits of greatness like Big Shuj casually shoot headbutting Abe to bust him open or Hikaru’s sweet-ass legbar takedown on Iwamoto. This also happened to be the culmination of the recent Frustrated Yusuke Okada storyline, as him getting decimated by Jake Lee for the finish led to his official exit from Evolution. Yusuke’s acting was on point for this entire angle and I can’t wait to see what’s next for him. **1/2
Shotaro Ashino, Kuma Arashi & Yusuke Kodama vs. Yuma Aoyagi, KAI & TAJIRI
Former AJPW mainstay turned WRESTLE-1 Ace turned Freelancer KAI crossing paths with Enfants Terribles (former WRESTLE-1 turned AJPW heel badasses) was an interesting twist of fate here. The match itself was less concise than JIN/Evolution, but still managed to put a smile on my face whenever Ashino and Yuma were in the ring together. These two have brilliant chemistry and Aoyagi really comes across as a star against THE SUPLEX MASTER. Almost makes me want to go back to watch their recent singles match, but who has time for empty arena wrestling anymore? Sidenote: TAJIRI making his opponents work their asses off to keep him from tagging out is an underrated facet of his game. **1/4
Takao Omori & Black Menso-re vs. Yoshitatsu & Seigo Tachibana
The Yoshitatsu/Tachibana love/hate relationship still delivers a good amount of fun for the whole family. There’s solid comedy value in Yoshi kicking his own partner around and then throwing him at Yusuke Okada to deflect the post-match GAORA TV title challenge. I don’t remember much else about the match outside of Menso-re being weirdly motivated. His rollup counter to the dreaded Yoshitatsu Fantasy was extremely inspired. Thank you for your service Black Menso-re. **
Kento Miyahara, Jiro Ikemen Kuroshio & Francesco Akira vs. Zeus, Izanagi & UTAMARO
The big story here was Izanagi of all people stealing the pin on Kento. The way this played out with Maruyama/Izanagi getting so visibly emotional over the big win and Zeus cutting a friendly supportive promo afterwards makes me think this could go into a couple of directions. A) Kento soon dissolves his new unit after realizing his hatred for Ikemen is causing him some embarrassing losses. B) Purple Haze get turned back to babyface to leave the heel spotlight to Enfants Terribles. C) None of the above – Bookerman Big Shuj just wanted to give Izanagi a nice moment. **1/4
Hokuto Omori vs. Dan Tamura – Asunaro Cup (Finals)
The attempt at a complete main event match between two was admirable but there were some glaring issues throughout. Large parts of the match lacked the intensity of a tournament final and a lot of the more elaborate offense attempts came off flat or poorly executed. My favorite spots were whenever they would just beat the shit out of each other and scream off the top of their lungs. Also dug the build towards Hokuto’s German suplex – kid should probably focus on that more than his Ace Crusher because that thing looks super weak. Through the magical power of clapping, the fans added some drama to the last minutes and I appreciate young Daniel really synching in that modified Cloverleaf. To me, the post-match angle was more interesting than the match itself. Tamura joining Evolution feels like a great fit (Suwama can probably help him out with that lariat) and Omori defecting to Enfants Terribles is a fun twist that I don’t think anyone saw coming. **1/4
