Yusuke Kodama vs. Yusuke Okada
BATTLE OF THE YUSUKES. These boys had a mighty fine match during the dreadful empty arena Puroresu summer. This got less time and didn’t reach the same heights, but still showcased the same kind of highly dependable wrestling both guys excel at. Kodama’s stomach-targeting offense and zombie heel facials were on the money, as were Okada’s bright yellow babyface forearms and chops. The vibe in Shinjuku FACE is as good as it gets in these cursed COVID times. **1/2
Takao Omori, Black Menso-re & Ryuki Honda vs. Francesco Akira, Rising HAYATO & Atsuki Aoyagi
God bless the Italian Warrior Child Francesco Akira for randomly busting out a wonky but extremely brave Sasuke Special #2 in this inessential but solid 6-man tag. Young Atsuki Aoyagi truly is on the cusp of a perfect look and he just needs to remove the armbands to reach his peak potential. I get that he wants some stylistic connection with big bro, but it doesn’t work. **1/4
Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura vs. Koji Doi & Hokuto Omori
More very appropriate undercard wrestling from your good pals at Zen Nihon Pro-Wrestling. Omori keeps growing into his cocky chef’s kissing persona and it’s a beautiful thing to witness. Also, he now chains his Complete shot into the scissors kick like a boss. Meanwhile, Doi keeps getting the badass treatment whenever he gets a spot on the card, which is a good sign for him. Good on Hikaru for selling his chops like white hot death. **1/2
Masato Tanaka & TAJIRI vs. Yoshitatsu & Ryouji Sai – Real World Tag League
The big story behind this match was WORLD FAMOUS Yoshitatsu recently going on Twitter (his first mistake) to declare that he was MORE ECW than Team ECW because he worked the shitty late-years WWE version of ECW. This bold proclamation fueled a shtick-heavy match with a lot of Singapore cane trickery and the always-welcome Masato Tanaka table spot. It wasn’t great but I liked parts of it? I think? Sai and Tanaka have some ZERO1 baggage together and seemed eager to beat the shit out each other. I would’ve taken more of that and less Yoshitatsu dorking out over table spot setups that went nowhere. **3/4
Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto vs. Shigehiro Irie & Izanagi – Real World Tag League
Here we go, baby. Time for the REALEST world tag league. All action all the time with a pissy Jake Lee kicking the crap out of Izanagi like he talked shit about Dropkick Murphy’s before the match. As sad as I am about Zeus missing out on the tournament, it’s hard to deny how much heat Izanagi’s rollups are bringing to the table. Long-term Big Shuj booking finally paying off. To go along the effective Tall Kicking/Smol Cradling dynamic, El Samurai students Iwamoto and Irie had a mini-banger right in the middle of the match and it was tremendous fun. Two guys with flawless execution doing their thing. The spotlight went back on Jake/Izanagi for a juicy ending stretch that saw Shinjuku FACE lose their shit as much as they’re allowed to. Love the wrestling. ***1/2
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shotaro Ashino & Kuma Arashi – Real World Tag League
Their tag title match from October was a lot more exciting, but this was still up there in terms of quality beef content. Ashino bravely accepted the Enfant in peril gig and took a real shit-kicking from the Giants. I feared for the man’s safety every time he tried to fight back with chops on Suwama. All the momentum shifts felt organic and came from teamwork-based ingenuity, which made the match feel like a proper TAG TEAM CONTEST. Ashino shoving Arashi out of the way to catch Suwama with a German suplex was a particularly cool moment. Like in their previous meeting, Kuma and Big Shuj took center stage for the finish, only this time Enfants had the Giants’ number and Arashi was finally able to soar to new metaphorical and physical heights with his glorious diving senton. A well laid-out tag slug-fest that showed the office’s commitment to Enfants Terribles. ***3/4
Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Abdullah Kobaysahi – Real World Tag League
Yuma coming out with a god damn spoon to counter Abby’s forking action was the clear highlight of this extremely shticky main event. There were enough decent wrestling bits in the back end of the match to save the thing from being a total flop, but maaaan did it take long to get there. Kobayashi’s plodding Abby/Hansen tribute sent both Kento and Yuma in full troll mode, which gave the match a throwaway vibe even if there were some laughs to be had. The action did pick up for the finish: big pop for the Yuma Superplex on Abby and you know you’re in good hands whenever Kento and Sekimoto are in the ring together. Not the greatest match, but Abby’s post-match Kento parody promo bumps it to a Gentlemen’s Three. ***
