Yuma Aoyagi & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Francesco Akira & Rising HAYATO
A mighty effort from All Japan’s Korakuen opening match squad, featuring all the sound fundamentals and reasonable high flying you’ve come to expect from these youngsters. Akira and HAYATO used the hyperactive energy they’ve been absorbing from Kento to stay in control of the action and isolate Atsuki from his big brother. Tag team wrasslin’ 101. Speaking of Baby blue Aoyagi: this kid is starting to feel pretty special. He worked an action-packed ending stretch with Akira and debuted a DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS top-rope Moonsault with Kobashi-esque levitation. Senior Referee/Kento Miyahara’s Best Friend Kyohei Wada was sitting on commentary and popped big time for Atsuki’s flippy prowress. Same, Kyohei, same. ***
Yoshitatsu, Yusuke Okada & Carbell Ito vs. Ryouji Sai, Hikaru Sato & So Daimonji
First Ryouji Sai appearance in AJPW since COVID and for a guy who normally doesn’t do much for me, it was a pretty good comeback. The LAND’S END LEGEND kicked poor Okada so hard that he sent Francesco Akira in adolescent markout mode on commentary. They also continued the Yoshitatsu/Okada bad leadership story and while it makes for decent comedy on this tour, I hope there’s something better planned for Yusuke for the rest of the year. **1/2
Takao Omori, Masanobu Fuchi, Osamu Nishimura & Black Menso-re vs. Shotaro Ashino, Kuma Arashi, Koji Doi & Hokuto Omori
What better way to introduce new Enfants Terribles member Koji Doi than having him face the wrath of the Masanobu Fuchi Midcard Army? In all seriousness, this felt like the best Fuchi multiman tag in ages. Ashino enthusiastically ran through the closed fist shtick with old man Masanobu, Kuma and Nishimura traded hard shots and newcomer Doi came across as an unstoppable force of nature for the finish. The guy’s no non-sense heavyweight style already feels like a perfect fit for All Japan. **3/4
Zeus & Izanagi vs. Jake Lee & Fuminori Abe
Since when are JIN coming out to Dropkick Murphy’s? Is this the new Jake/Abe theme? So many questions, so little time. This was a rock solid tag with a dastardly Purple Haze heel beatdown eventually giving way to a full-on Champ Carnival warmup between Jake and Zeus. Zeus’ injured arm came into focus in a big way as Jake smartly lasered in on it to cut off the Z-Man’s deadly power offense. The Gentleman Shooter looked really sharp here and I particularly dug his Triangle choke counter for the Zeus Choke slam. If done right, the arm story could add some new depth to Zeus’ Champ Carnival matches. Looking forward to it. ***
TAJIRI © vs. UTAMARO – EWA Intercontinental Title
This wasn’t great or anything, but they were wise enough to keep it short and to the point. Still not quite sure what to make of Purple Haze UTAMARO, but he was tolerable as a midcard schlob angrily gunning for the PRESTIGIOUS EWA IC TITLE. TAJIRI was TAJIRI, but he had a couple of fun tricks up his sleeve to keep things semi-interesting. Liked the way they worked the Green Mist spot and I’m a sucker for a good Buzzsaw kick outta’ nowhere KO finish. **3/4
Koji Iwamoto © vs. Dan Tamura – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
By far the biggest match of young Daniel Tamura’s career and I thought he knocked it out of the park. His new Evolution mentors seem to be rubbing off on him in the best way because he looked so much more confident here than in the Asunaro Cup Finals with Omori. The energy level was high all the way through and he had no issues working the Iwamoto Big Match template, complete with floor death bumps and all. Iwamoto did good in the sempai role, even if I wish he showed more emotion at all times. I quite enjoyed how Dan weaved in his recent move-set additions into the match – the Dan Lock and that brand spanking new lariat came off as big deals. The last few minutes were a bit heavy on the near-fall spam, but I appreciate Good Guy Koji wanting to make Tamura look strong in defeat. ***1/2
IKUTO HIDAKA IS HERE!
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa © vs. Kento Miyahara & Jiro Ikemen Kuroshio – AJPW Tag-Team Titles
A pretty good main event that was both propelled and held back slightly by the Ikemen/Suwama dynamic. The story of Ikemen not being taken seriously by the Giants and having to prove himself was occasional gold, yet I felt like they could’ve gone further with it. Jiro bumped, sold and defiantly got into his opponents’ grumpy faces, but their response lacked the ferociousness that could’ve taken the match to another level. This needed the scary Suwama that nearly murdered Yusuke Okada in December, not Mildly Irritated Suwama.
Otherwise, the match was expertly laid out and escalated nicely into a big ending stretch between the two main characters. Kento let Jiro hog the spotlight for most of the match, helping out on a few double-team spots and hilariously screaming ‘’NICE!’’ from time to time to congratulate Ikemen on his cool movez. While still a reliable source of solid wrasslin’, the Giants’ matches are no longer hitting the peaks from last year and a title switch is starting to feel needed. ***1/2
