Takao Omori, Black Menso-re & Yoshitatsu vs. Jake Lee, Koji Iwamoto & TAJIRI
It’s pretty surreal seeing fans back inside 2AW Square. What better way to celebrate this historic moment than a moderately okay pro-wrestling match featuring two legitimate FORMER WWE SUPERSTARS. This is the real deal, folks. I must point out that Omori is up there with Tanahashi as far as socially distanced babyface entrances go: passionately going up to the fans but making sure to remind them ‘’NO TOUCH!’’. The match was mostly all TAJIRI slippery shtick before Iwamoto overcame Menso-re’s vicious eye pokes as another stepping stone towards junior championship gold. *3/4
Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura vs. Yuma Aoyagi & Atsuki Aoyagi
THE AOYAGI BROTHERS ARE BACK. Yuma played the older brother in peril, incapacitated by Evolution’s arm attacks until Atsuki came to the rescue with his tricked out young boy high spots. Did not expect that Hayabusa-style standing Moonsault! The kid is going places. This was also Dan’s first match as part of Evolution and he’s already looking more confident. I think Suwama got in his ear about his lariat because he properly took Atsuki’s head off with that thing. A transition towards blue ring gear might be in order for this young man. **1/4
Zeus & Izanagi vs. Shotaro Ashino & Yusuke Kodama
The Izanagi Push continues and I think my theory about the Purple Haze babyface turn (or at least tweener turn) is proving to be correct. Outside of their pre-bell bum rush, they’ve dropped most of their heel shtick and were actively playing to the crowd in this match. Really good chemistry between them and Enfants Terribles, especially Ashino/Zeus. You know these guys have a Champion Carnival banger in them. Also popped big time for Ashino/Kodama’s imaginative catapult German suplex double-team. Solid wrestling was solid. **1/2
Kento Miyahara & Francesco Akira vs. Kuma Arashi & Hokuto Omori
One of the best Kento entrances in recent memory. He is literally the human manifestation of cocaine at this point. The AJPW.TV VOD went completely bonkers during this match and the timing couldn’t have been worse because there was a lot of cool storyline progression happening. Not only was this Hokuto’s first match as part of Enfants Terribles, but the focus on him and Miyahara seemed to hint at big plans for young Omori. Really dug the newfound aggression from this kid: him flipping off Kento post-match was a peak SCREW YOU DAD moment. Kuma manhandling Akira also seemed like a good time but it was difficult to follow with the streaming issues. **1/4
Yusuke Okada vs. Seigo Tachibana – Hair vs. Hair Match
Just noticed Yoshitatsu protégé Tachibana gets introduced as ‘’SHINJUKU FAMOUS’’. That’s incredible. Okada came out with glorious new yellow gear for this match and I’m all about this man’s post-Evolution lifestyle. The match was once again plagued by VOD sync fuckery, but if you can look past those (or if they get fixed by the time I write this): this was some good pro-wrestling. Probably the best I’ve seen Tachibana look since branching out to AJPW and DDT, as he cranked up the physicality while maintaining all of his sleazy Yakuza mannerisms. They kept it simple: lots of hard forearms and boots to the face leading up to eventual juicy near-falls. Okada looked like a star and this is the first time in ages that I’m actually excited about a Yoshitatsu GAORA TV title match. ***
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa © vs. Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto – AJPW World Tag Team Titles
The commentary team were dropping some serious knowledge on the history of All-Asia tag champions clashing with World tag champs here. Plus a ton of fun tidbits on Union Pro, Big Japan and all the previous encounters between Big Shuj and Yankee Two Kenju. Ultimately, this couldn’t live up to that kind of hype, despite a good amount of quality moments. At times, the in-ring action felt as out of sync as the VOD audio track: both Isami and Miyamoto botching some of their comebacks and the execution in general just not being all there. Everyone did get their shit together for the ending stretch, Ishikawa and Isami working a fun finish based around Shuji’s Splash Mountain and Kodaka’s thousand ways to escape it. YTK using their indie craftiness to work around the Giants’ power advantage was a cool story in theory, but didn’t fully land in practice. Not bad or anything, but these guys probably have a better match in them. ***
COMING UP NEXT: The Violence Giants… COLLIDE! IN KORAKUEN! (Hopefully without any audio sync issues!)
