Mohammed Yone & Kinya Okada vs. Manabu Soya & Yoshiki Inamura
There was no wheel reinvention here but the basics of professional wrestling were covered and sometimes that’s all you need. Human beings fighting over holds, Inamura making angry faces as Yone kicked the crap out of him, Okada showing his growth by getting to kick out of a big burly Death Valley Bomb from Soya. Very pleasant. **1/4
Kenoh vs. Shuhei Taniguchi – N-1 Victory (Block B)
So much more enjoyable than Taniguchi’s dreary main event with Sugiura from the previous show. They wasted no time and got right into the action, Taniguchi overwhelming the Kongo boss with his power advantage and forcing him to rely on his quickness to fight back. Kenoh pulled an amazing spot where he somehow cartwheeled off the apron and segued right into a backflip enzuigiri on the floor!? Eat your fuckin’ heart out, Will Ospreay. Props to Taniguchi for integrating his questionable winding headbutt organically in the middle of a strike exchange, blending the backwards motion with his selling. I like an instant choke finish as much as the next guy, but it felt like they had a few more minutes of quality pro-wrasslin’ in them when the match ended. Still a whole lot of fun. Spoiler: the mood in Korakuen is a lot more uplifting than it was on the first two cards. ***1/4
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Masa Kitamiya – N-1 Victory (Block A)
A few hiccups here, but otherwise another rock-solid match. Masa seemed to legit hurt his knee near the ending stretch, which temporarily derailed the action. Thankfully, Kaito was able to bring things right back on track by bumping like an absolute maniac for Kitamiya’s lariats and Backdrops. The kid might end up in a wheelchair in two years, but right now I appreciate the effort. The rest of the match featured Masa’s signature leg attacks and all the old school wrestling tricks that Kaito learned from watching Ric Flair/Kerry Von Erich matches (please follow Kaito on Twitter for more of these hot scoops). I appreciate the elegant simplicity of the kid’s moveset, even if it’s not ideal for 30 minute draws with Masaaki Mochizuki. ***1/4
Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA vs. Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke
I wanted to like this because I’m very into the idea of this upcoming Kotaro/Haoh junior title match, but the Stinger beatdown on little Haoh came about 10 minutes too late and I was struggling to make sense of the match structure. They tried to pull me back in with some cool ideas during the ending stretch, but by then I had already logged off. The entire pre-beatdown section could’ve easily been chopped off. **1/2
Go Shiozaki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba – N-1 Victory (Block A)
How much fun do you think Saku is having in this tournament? This man has probably dreamed about wrenching someone’s arm against a guardrail his entire life. Truly the perfect foil for handsome Shiozaki and his eternally-ravaged arms. They laid out a tight structure that played to both guys’ strengths: Sakuraba targeting Go’s weaknesses and working circles around him on the mat. Quite enjoyed the character arc Saku went on here : underestimating Go initially and no-selling his chops before eating the FULL WRATH OF PRO-WRESTLING later on when the champ started taking his head off with lariats. Again, it was Go’s next-level selling and emoting that helped bring everything up a notch. This man is on a RUN. ***1/2
Takashi Sugiura vs. Naomichi Marufuji – N-1 Victory (Block B)
Not gonna lie to you guys: I was just about ready to throw in the towel on 30 minute draws for the rest of my life after the Kaito/Mochi disaster. Considering my extreme dread level and the fact I was spoiled the result in advance, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Undeniably too long and slightly dry in places, but they packed enough hooks and subplots to keep you engaged all the way through. Unlike Kaito/Mochi, this is a draw that was at least built logically and managed to generate a good share of clapping drama in the final stretch.
Old man Marufuji is a very limited proposition, but the guy is smart enough to work within those limits and make his classic signature spots matter. His on and off arm assault served as a solid backbone for the match, feeding him some clever comeback options whenever he had to turn the match around. They managed to fully grab my attention with that intense strike exchange that kicked off the ending stretch and gave me a real nostalgia rush with the top-rope Shiranui segment. Not bad at all. ***1/2
