Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura vs. Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama
Solid opening match wrasslin’. Enfants Terribles might bend the rules once in a while, but amongst each other they seem to be a wonderfully supportive bunch of lads. Look at Kodama happily partaking in the Hokoto Omori CHEF’S KISS. He loves that shit. Another highlight here was Daniel Tamura showing more and more of that Evolution hoss child confidence and tearing through everything in sight with beastly shoulderblocks. Stylistically, him and Hokuto are moving into completely opposite directions – I’m digging it. It adds a neat contrast to their generational rivalry. **1/2
Yoshitatsu, Yusuke Okada, Ryouji Sai, Ishikiri & Chikara vs. Takao Omori, Masanobu Fuchi, Black Menso-re, Mitsuo Momota & Ryuki Honda
So many grandiose stories converging in one AJPW Old Men Korakuen Hall 2nd Match. The MOMOTAS EXPLODE, Tatsu/Ryouji Sai strike a Yoshitatsu Kingdom/Land’s End partnership based on their common passion for Spiderman and best of all, Masanobu Fuchi tells the referee he is throwing open hand punches while he is in fact THROWING CLOSTED FISTS. I feel alive again. **1/4
Zeus & Izanagi © vs. Francesco Akira & Rising HAYATO – All-Asia Tag Team Titles
This was a whole lot of fun. Really solid layout with the challengers getting completely overwhelmed early on and bumping their asses off to make Purple Haze look like killers. Akira’s natural babyface energy shone big time – an ideal foil for Zeus’ feats of strength and other assorted Olympian destruction. The eventual comeback from Kento’s foster kids was filled with wild new spots, the two big ones being a gorgeous SPACEMAN PLANCHA from Ehime Pro’s favorite son and some sort of Rey Fenix-esque rope-rebound cutter of pure GIF-ability from Akira. HAYATO working the finish with Izanagi was a bit of a mixed bag because while the kid does have a fun underdog vibe, I’m struggling to buy that superkick of his as a serious threat. ***1/4
Kento Miyahara, Yuma Aoyagi & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Jake Lee, TAJIRI & Masato Tanaka
A RWTL preview match that brought the laughs and teased some fresh new match-ups. Sekimoto went right into the ‘’I can’t stand Kento’’ bit that his Big Japan buddy Okabayashi did so well in his last All Japan appearance. Angry muscle men chopping Miyahara to tag themselves in will never get old. The other notable stories here were Sekimoto and Jake showing great chemistry and old Dangan Tanaka heating up a potential new beef with Kento. The wrestling stayed at a pretty decent level throughout and made me excited about some tag league matches, so mission accomplished. ***
Koji Iwamoto © vs. Atsuki Aoyagi – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
The elevation of baby blue Atsuki Aoyagi has been so well handled this year. From him standing out on the undercard thanks to his daredevil high flying to the big upset pin on Iwamoto and now the new gear reveal and title challenge – the booking of his upwards trajectory’s been air tight. This was the match where the kid let loose from the young boy shackles and got to try all of the crazy shit he’s been itching to do for months. The movez are there, now he just needs to improve his character work and babyfacing to round it all out. As expected, Iwamoto did a rock-solid job providing the steady veteran base to keep the match structured and logical. The man’s expertly-timed cutoffs always bring me great joy and I popped big time for his MURDER URANAGE counter to Atsuki’s backspring forearm. A promising start for the next phase of Aoyagi’s career. ***1/2
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa © vs. Shotaro Ashino & Kuma Arashi – AJPW Tag Team Titles
The best Violence Giants match since last year’s RWTL finals and the kind of high impact heavyweight ass kicking that keeps me coming back to All Japan. Four inspired performances: Suwama/Ashino reigniting the tasty dynamic of their Triple Crown match and Arashi/Shuji supplying large amounts of meat.
Loved how they laid this thing out: Enfants spending the first half of the match working over Big Shuj’s ribs after Kuma crushed them to pieces with his apron senton of pure white hot death. In order to get back in the driver’s seat, the Giants had to put their recent differences aside and agree to lariat some fools together – literally a sequence that happened in this match and it was wonderful.
Ishikawa and Kuma took center stage for the entire ending stretch, Ashino and Suwama popping in from time to time to break up a pinfall or murder someone with a suplex. Even if he didn’t win, this did more for Arashi than any of his Champion Carnival matches. All the deadlift spots on Big Shuj made him look larger than life and he finally came off as the threat that he deserves to be in this promotion. So many juicy near-falls that lit up Korakuen and made you forget this was a clapping-only COVID show. The beef was had and the beef was good. ****1/4
