Sometimes, life comes at you fast and you no longer have time to watch, let alone review all of the dumb wrestling that demands to be watched and reviewed. For any professional WRESTLING JOURNALIST and trusted content provider, this is simply unacceptable. Therefore, I have decided to put out this new monthly column to focus on all of the shit that I’ve missed from whatever promotions I’m watching in a given month. Buckle up: it is time to FILL THE GAPS.
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi – AJPW Tag Team Titles (AJPW 1/2/21)
The final Violence Giants match was representative of both guys’ current state. They’re tired and banged up, but when push comes to shove, they will still fuck you up. So, parts of this were a bit slow, but the structure was well put-together and the big moments landed right on the money. The progression from Yuma getting his ass kicked as babyface in peril to gradually pulling the big upset on the Wamster was especially well handled.
Kento let him have most of the spotlight and focused on his apron coaching and always-explosive exchanges with Big Shuj. Meanwhile, the Giants brought out the big guns for the ending stretch (Tower of Doom Powerbomb of death, Ishikawa apron Fire Thunder) and got the place hyped up for the finale between Yuma and Suwama. A1 dynamic between these two and rock-solid teaser for their Triple Crown match the next day. ***3/4
Konosuke Takeshita, Yuki Ueno, MAO & Shunma Katsumata vs. Shota, Akito, Kazuki Hirata & Keisuke Ishii (DDT 1/3/21)
If you can look past Sauna Club driving their latest catch phrase into the ground early on, this was a whole lotta’ fun. Action-packed 14-minute sprint with the Ganbare guest stars easily keeping up with DDT’s handsomest/dumbest babyface gang. The first half of the match gave a nice taste of Takeshita’s range as he effortlessly mixed wacky US indie double-teams with Shunma, fun comedy bits with Hirata and high-end straight forward wrasslin’ with Ishii. Later on, the ending stretch previewed the Ueno/Shota Universal title match in exciting fashion: all flash rollups and high-speed counters. Thumbs up to the multi-Sauna Splash segment. ***1/2
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Keisuke Ishii (Ganbare Pro 1/9/21)
Last year’s tag between Hidaka/Fujita and Ishii/Iwasaki hinted at big time potential between old man Ikuto and Rubber Soul enthusiast Ishii. They followed up on that promise here with a rock-solid match that popped me numerous times with its technical intricacies. Hidaka’s still one of the smartest dudes in wrestling and his tricked-out leg-focused cut-offs never fail to entertain. The early sections had a lot of clever, out-of-the-box thinking, namely that apron sequence that set-up the through-the-ropes DDT and Hidaka somehow transitioning from the Shawn Capture into a freakin’ leg-hooked standing Cobra twist THING. They eventually settled into less imaginative back and forth movez-trading, but a good time was had nonetheless. ***1/2
Go Shiozaki & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge (NOAH 1/15/21)
Erm, this ruled? I’ve seen next to no hype on the CYBERSPACE for this bad boy and was therefore fully caught by surprise by such a high quantity of house show ass kicking. The match had a clear divide between Harada/Maru and Go/Kotoge, with the two stories bringing different flavors. Maru leaned right into the chess game counter wrestling with Harada while Kotoge dropped the goofball antics to go to toe to toe with the GHC champ.
The latter pairing is what brought the match to another level and kept me glued to my screen. Human Red Bull Kotoge being forced to rely on god damn shoot headbutts to fend off Go’s barrage of flesh-ripping chops was pure visceral greatness. Shiozaki is so fucking good at portaying The Top Guy that anyone benefits from taking the fight to him.
Liked Momo No Seishun using their tag team expertise to overcome heavyweight destruction, liked the Go/Maru ENDLESS CHOPS OF DEATH and liked Harada randomly busting out the Italian Connection-era Masato Yoshino double-jump Tornado DDT. Liked all of this. ***3/4
Keigo Nakamura vs. Hideki Okatani (DDT 1/16/21)
There’s no way I was going to miss these two working a main event slot. Okatani has come a long way since being picked up by Junretsu and is already showing the results of Akiyama tutelage. More confidence, more body slams on the floor. Meanwhile, Keigo was the perfect babyface counterpart for his dojo buddy’s newfound edge. Top notch selling, emoting and flipping from this shiny-headed dork. Some execution issues plagued the back end of the match, but both guys made up for it with their strong grasp of pacing and structure. Gentlemen’s Three for the boys. ***
Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie vs. Shota & Asuka (Ganbare Pro 1/17/21)
Ganbare main events have quietly become one of the most reliable sources of quality wrestling on the indie scene. Not too long ago, we had that rocking Asuka title reign and now we get this banger. A well-oiled tag match with a structure that always made sense and let the action grow organically. Lots of fun little details that ended up making a world of difference. Irie denying Shota’s wristlock counters and keeping him in a monster headlock while mugging at Asuka was the mark of a TRUE PROFESSIONAL.
Same goes for Asuka working the apron like crazy and sassing everything in sight. Story-wise, Ishii/Irie’s past DDT bromance gave them the edge and turned Shota/Asuka into a compelling babyface pair. Satisfying comebacks and big crowd-popping high spots all over the place + monster cutoffs from Irie (that apron Banzai Drop was hellacious). As always, Shota put his vast rollup knowledge to good use and worked a wild finish with Ishii. Love the wrestling. ***3/4
Shun Skywalker, Jason Lee & La Estrella vs. Eita, Kaito Ishida & Dia Inferno vs. YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Keisuke Okuda – 3-Way Elimination Match (Dragon Gate 1/17/21)
Man, this would’ve been pretty great if not for the dreadful middle portion. Plodding chokin’ and stompin’ colliding with obligatory heel beatdowns to create a super massive black hole of wrestling boredom. If you’re able to tough it out, you’ll find some gold at the end of the rainbow though. The 3-way tag remains one of the coolest Dragon Gate tropes and only these guys could pull off this kind of concept with such ease and speed. Okuda/Ishida reignited their rapid-fire NEVER tribute beef, Jason cleaned house like a boss and masked newbie Estrella once again stole the show with his high-risk lucha acrobatics. I also must give props to Inferno’s supernatural floating bump on the Ultra Hurricanrana finish. Big SUWA vibes. ***1/4
Kenoh & Manabu Soya vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Masato Tanaka (NOAH 1/31/21)
THE HYBRID WRESTLER Masakatsu Funaki already feels like a much, much better opponent for Kenoh than Murakami. All of the shoot-flavored exchanges they had in this match had more of an edge than anything with the Heisei Terrorist. Funaki refused to compromise about 75% of the time and Kenoh had to fight for survival, which is how it should be. New M’s Alliance member Tanaka was a great addition too and he already looks like a perfect fit for NOAH. Lovely exchanges with both Kenoh and Soya. The Big Red Machine keeps impressing whenever he gets some spotlight. Best test of strength in all of wrestling and I’m pretty sure he threw the most realistic Bulldogging headlock I’ve ever seen at some point here. ***1/2
