Minoru Fujita vs. Shota
Fuck. There’s 17 minutes I’ll never get back. GanPro taking a page from the 2020 NOAH playbook and kicking things off with a needlessly long opener put me in a truly foul mood. You could tell the action was heading straight into nightmare territory after the never-ending opening lockup and all the slow motion hold-trading that followed. I guess they tried to pick up the pace for the ending stretch, but the low-rent back and forth they put together wasn’t enough to save the match. Intensity-deprived indie bullshit that made me crave the young boy opening match from last month. *3/4
Shunma Katsumata & Yuna Manase vs. Keisuke Ishii & HARUKAZE
Already feeling much better thanks to his fun intergender romp. The high energy level from everyone involved instantly made this better than the opener. To the surprise of no one, Ishii and Katsumata have brilliant chemistry. Lots of high-speed intricate exchanges that made me instantly scramble towards Cage Match in search of a potential singles match. Also dug the dynamic between Yuna and HARUKAZE: the masked lady doing her best to neutralize Manase’ lariat by picking her arm apart only to eventually succumb to the THICC QUEEN’s power advantage. No complaints. **3/4
Ken Ohka, Yumehito Imanari & Miss Mongol © vs. Katsuzaki Shunosuke, Moehiko Harumisawa & Washi Sakurai – GWC 6-Man Tag Team Titles
Here we are, firmly back into the Groan Zone. Way too long for the people involved, even if everyone tried to make it work. They stuck to the basics, which is fine, but no one here has very impressive basics so the whole thing just dragged. I think Shunosuke whiffed about 3 kicks in a row on Imanari for the finish? Hell yeah. *3/4
Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Hagane Shinnou & Shota
The story here was Fujita letting old buddy Ikuto wrestle the entire match due to extreme laziness/exhaustion from the never-ending opener. Kinda tropey, but a Hidaka handicap match turned out to be more compelling than anything involving active participation from 2020 Minoru Fujita. The pint-sized legend could pull a decent match out of a broomstick at this point. Shota was a perfectly fine broomstick for the occasion, but I would’ve taken more Shinnou/Hidaka as their brief exchanges hinted at potential greatness. **1/2
Asuka © vs. Shinichiro Tominaga – Independent World Jr. Heavyweight Title
While this didn’t quite reach the heights of Asuka’s match with Shinnou from last month, it was still pretty awesome. Again, Asuka’s captivating personality carried the whole thing. From her early bitchiness during the matwork section to her selling a freakin’ bear hug like like white hot death: impeccable attention to detail. Meanwhile, Tominaga came off as dangerously bland early on (especially compared to Shinnou’s aggressive performance), but the champ managed to slap some life into him and he contributed a couple of fun high spots in the second half. I popped for his leaping rana off the top and he milked the shit out of a cobra clutch-type thingy. They worked a lot of juicy near-falls during the ending stretch, Asuka’s spin kicks and suplexes crashing into Tominaga’s more indie-leaning offense to cap off a well-constructed match. Loving this run from Asuka as the GanPro main event savior! ***1/2
