There are days when one must skip the undercard.
Shotaro Ashino vs. Kohei Sato – Champion Carnival
Ashino’s been showcasing his technical side for most of this tournament, finally scoring a big win over Miyahara thanks to his mastery of the secret art known as Working The Leg. Tiger-tattooed tough guy Kohei Sato brought a different kind of challenge. The kind you can’t ankle lock your way out of.
What started as a playful little chop battle quickly escalated into an all-out strike war, Big Ash eating a dirty dozen of Sato’s hardest forearms. Both guys leaned into a simple but effective slug-fest layout with Ashino supplying enough bravado to get himself over in defeat. The quiet Shin Kiba atmosphere gave an extra oomph to every shot and Ashino confirmed his badassitude by working out of his element against a certified killer. ***1/4
Suwama vs. Koji Doi – Champion Carnival
More efficient sub-10-minute wrestling with just enough inter-tournament continuity. They initially brought back the arm focus of Wama/Zeus but quickly dropped it in favor of more straight-forward power fighting. Worked for me. Again, Big Wama Jamma was generous with his selling and let Doi lead the first half of the match (until it was time to rip his head off). Doi doesn’t have the biggest personality, but his crisp execution and hard work make his matches an easy watch. The fighting spirit no-sell of the Backdrop near the end was a nice touch. ***
Jake Lee vs. Shinjiro Otani – Champion Carnival
Solid wrestling was solid. The Dark Gentleman Jake Lee struck a nice balance between getting over his new heel shtick (Dracula mannerisms, choking spots, anime villain laugh) and working the hard-nosed Old Man Otani match template. Otani is a true genius at blurring the line between chops and slaps. You’re never quite sure where he’s hitting a guy but you just know it hurts like hell. Also, I love me a good facewash counter and Jake’s drop-toe hold cutoff was the stuff of legends. A long man using his long legs very wisely. ***1/4
Zeus vs. Yuma Aoyagi – Champion Carnival
These two were the center piece of a tasty tag title program back in March. They put their undeniable chemistry to good use again here and had a well-structured match that logically built and built towards a big Yuma victory. Aoyagi lowered the sass level from his tag performances and found himself into a more classic underdog role, having to work for every comeback.
Obviously, Zeus was born to play this kind of dominant antagonist – all strength spots and hurty chop cut-offs. The match ended a bit abruptly, but those last few minutes were chock full of good stuff. Yuma’s bumps for the full-force Zeus running lariat never fail to deliver and they got a tremendous near-fall out of the one here. I’m pretty sure they have an even better match in them, but this one will do just fine for now. ***1/2
