Francesco Akira & Alejandro vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO
The small men of All Japan Pro-Wrestling look completely revitalized by the Junior Battle of Glory. A tournament that I did not have time to watch yet. Akira calls himself FIREBALL now and as much as I’d enjoy seeing him adorned in cinnamon whiskey imagery, he’s actually covered in hot flamez and looks ready to take over this division. Burn, baby, burn. Meanwhile, the Nextream aerialists keep watching AEW Dark every week in order to pick up new tricks. Clearly, it’s starting to pay off because they managed to fit in an inordinate amount of flips and cartwheels in these 8 minutes. As for the latin lover Alejandro, he is basically the 2021 Masanobu Fuchi of this new AJPW regime. A Korakuen exclusive, monthly delight. FUN. ***1/4
Black Menso-re vs. Devil Murasaki
Masked man Devil Murasaki is both a mystery and an enigma. All that we know about him is that he’s Purple Haze’s junior LOOSE CANON. I’m not sure if they’re trying to do some intense Dragon Dia/Dia Inferno-style masked rivalry between him and Menso-re, but based on this match – I would recommend not doing that. *1/2
Takao Omori & Ryuki Honda vs. Jun Saito & Rei Saito
You won’t find a more perfect pair of All Japan rookies than the Saito twins. They’re unfairly tall, move around like they’re from the 80’s and are completely unafraid to use their sumo background. Also, they already have about half of their lives behind them. The complete Zen Nihon package. Both were allowed to do a lot more than your average young boy, which makes me think they’ll be hopping right on the Suwama-style supernova highway. Jun already has a pretty commanding presence and feels like a potential star, while brother Rei showed he could throw chest forearms with the best of ‘em. Can’t wait to see them hustle their way up on the undercard. **3/4
Zeus, Izanagi & UTAMARO vs. TAJIRI, Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama
Oh, Devil Murasaki. What have you done now!! The puzzling Murasaki run-ins fed right into TAJIRI’s shenanigans-heavy finish obsession and made for a bit of midcard unpleasantness. Purple Haze feel kind of lost in the shuffle at the moment. Adding a run-in guy to their ranks is probably not the best way to get them back on track. I don’t know. *3/4
Suwama, Shotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura vs. Jake Lee, Kuma Arashi & Koji Doi
Stop the presses. The Dark Gentleman Jake Lee has begun regrowing his musketeer goatee and will be at the height of his facial powers for the Triple Crown match with Suwama. A match I’m really looking forward to, previewed efficiently by these six gentlemen. The Wama/Jake ending stretch was especially tasty and it looks like both guys have some clever new counters up their sleeve. That casual murder lariat cut-off for Jake’s running knee was brilliant. Ashino also did great here as the hot tag receiver, cleaning house on his former Enfants buddies in pretty epic fashion. ***
CIMA © vs. Koji Iwamoto – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
I was skeptical at first, but this turned out very well. Once they got past the neck work retread of their Nagoya match, the action started ramping up in a big way and both guys brought the effort. Iwamoto fought from underneath for a lot of the match, which was a good call as most of his move-set works better in a comeback format. CIMA supplied the usual creativity and turned the ending stretch into a real nail biter thanks to his wide array of established finishers. Thumbs way up for the jumping DDT counter out of the judo throw and the hellacious sit-out Last Ride finish. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi © vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato – AJPW Tag Team Titles
The Nextream tag formula is getting a bit predictable, but the work is still hard to deny. Grouchy Kohei Sato added a fun new wrinkle to Yuma’s usual fighting underdog arc, bringing some additional danger to the table with his insta-knockout forearms and shoot headbutts. They got a lot of mileage out of Aoyagi just holding on for dear life after eating Twin Towers’ double team rush of death – Korakuen gasping more and more at every kickout. Kento was a great supporting character here, leaving the spotlight to Aoyagi but making the most out of all of his contributions.
Really enjoyed the bit where he tried to Ace it up against Sato only to get the wind knocked out of him. Other things that popped me: Kohei’s god damn 2nd-rope Falcon Arrow of pure pain and Aoyagi playing dead to bait Big Shuj into some flash rollups. I probably would’ve gone higher if they had found a new twist to the now par for the course Endgame finish. Kento and Yuma had a rock-solid reign that did wonders in elevating the blue boy wonder, but now feels like a good time to pass the puck to Kuma and Doi! ***3/4
