Tomoya Hirata vs. Washi Sakurai
An appropriate serving of meat and potatoes to kick off the show. Hirata’s a chunky youngster from FREEDOMS who specializes in traditional Japanese power offense. He fits the BJW Strong boy template, although doesn’t seem to have half the confidence of those guys. Ganbare’s own Sakurai had more of a kicky vibe, which I dug – even if he shared his opponent’s tentativeness. What both guys lacked in ring polish, they made up for in enthusiastic ass whopping. Some hard forearms and a few big suplexes were all that it took to stick the landing. As prescribed by years of Japanese wrestling opening match tradition. Amen. **1/4
Shunnosuke Katsusaki & Moehiko Kazugazawa vs. Shota & HARUKAZE vs. Yumehiro Imanari & Yuna Manase – 3-Way Mixed Tag Match
Look, I’m not gonna lie to you guys. I watched the Onita-produced Street Fight Club show just before this and I already have a considerable crush on TJPW’s Yuna Manase. Katsusaki is none other than All Out best boy Shunma Katsumata working a dollar store musician gimmick in the same vein as his partner Kazugazawa. These men and women put it all on the line in the name of intergender wrestling and it was allright! Mostly light-hearted in tone, but very well laid out and featuring lots of effort by everyone. Imanari/Manase doing Tenkoji double-teams = adorable. **1/2
Ken Ohka vs. Shinichiro Tominaga
I was all set to love this match after the incredible opening (Tominaga kicking Ohka’s head off as both were rocking out to Ken’s truly excellent B’z theme), but the meandering layout quickly lost my attention. Tominaga was on offense for 75% of the match and it wasn’t ideal. The guy has a couple of nifty spots but a lot of his move-set feels needlessly contrived (what was that apron neckbreaker thing supposed to be?). They bounced back for the finish with some manly shoot headbutts and a few juicy near-falls but other than that there wasn’t much to write home about. **1/4
Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Keisuke Ishii & Koki Iwasaki
Old men Hidaka and Fujita teaming together again in 2020 brings me great joy. These two used to be the coolest tag team on the Japanese indie scene back in the late 90’s/early 00’s. Fujita’s a divorced trainwreck now, but Hidaka is still a miracle worker and he brought out the best of his old partner’s drunken ass. They had a rocking match with the two Ganbare locals who easily kept up with all of the fast-paced counter wrestling trickery. Hidaka should run his own wrestling school by now. Everything this man does is so clever and perfectly executed.
I had never seen him on tape before, but I already have a soft spot for Iwasaki since he randomly showed up for a brutal 6 minute kick-fest with Kenoh on a NOAH show I attended in 2018. Ishii looked great too and worked an action packed ending stretch with Hidaka that made me crave more of this delicious pairing. The whole match was on another level than anything else on the card so far. Big time major league feel. ***1/2
Hagane Shinnou © vs. Asuka – Independent World Jr. Heavyweight Title
Like the Hidaka/Fujita team, the Independent junior title is another relic from the past that just brings me back, man. A staple of the indie scene that was passed around from FMW, to BattlARTS and Kaientai Dojo. Shinnou (the artist formerly known as Madoka) and Asuka (not that one) had a match worthy of the belt’s lineage and closed the show with a proper banger.
This was my first time seeing Asuka in action and she is suuuch a compelling performer. There’s a sassy charisma to her that is instantly likeable. She knows exactly how to play on the crowd’s heart strings whether she’s on defense or on offense. Meanwhile, Shinnou came off as a generic villain at first glance, but his viciousness eventually brought the match to another level. He cut off Asuka’s high flyin’ attitude by taking out her leg and oozing sadistic energy.
The combination of Asuka selling her ass off + the Ganbare girls showing support at ring-side added some serious tension to this thing. Ring-side seconds is the ultimate solution for the COVID-era, not canned heat. Markout-worthy counters started piling up as the match progressed (Holy shit @ Hagane countering the Crucifix armbar into a Stretch Muffler), leading to a strong finish with lots of gnarly spin kicks and big suplexes from Asuka. A super satisfying first time Asuka experience, with a clear-cut story and plenty of hard-hitting action. ****
