Kids, if you even think about quitting, Dory Funk Jr. will whip your ass.
Jun Saito vs. Rei Saito
THE SAITO TWINS COLLIDE! These two have a charming awkwardness that already makes them stand out from all other young boys in wrestling. I’m assuming their trainer kept them away from all modern wrestling and force-fed them Giant Baba matches 24/7. This was a smart decision as they feel like they’ve time traveled from 1979 and look primed to sumo chop their way to the top of the All Japan ecosystem. Extremely satisfying two-star wrestling. **
Tatsuhito Takaiwa & SUGI vs. Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO – 3-Way Tag Match
Six gentlemen who worked the recent Junior Battle of Glory trying very hard to convince me to go back and actually watch this tournament. They came through with an all-action-all-the-time junior sprint – everyone getting some time in the sun. The Nextream kids are an especially good fit for this type of setting as they know how to use the 3-way tropes to make their flashy offense pop even more. See: Atsuki breaking up Hikaru’s double ankle lock with a standing Moonsault. **3/4
Masanobu Fuchi, Shiro Koshinaka, Masahiko Takasugi & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Shinichi Nakano, Osamu Nishimura, SUSHI & Chikara – Jumbo Tsuruta Memorial Match
Not gonna lie, I’ve been missing the old men matches on AJPW’s Korakuen cards. There’s something weirdly comforting in Fuchi fooling referees with stealth closed fists and Big Nish caving people’s chests in with uppercuts. This match was booked exclusively for freaks like me, aka. the true appreciators of geriatric wrestling. Nakano (former AJPW, NJPW and SWS) hadn’t wrestled in 5 years. Takasugi, who goes all the way back to the IWE, looked on the verge of cardiac arrest. Yet these men were infused by the spirit of Jumbo Tsuruta and awkwardly battled the ultimate Heir to Old Man Wrestling Chikara Momota for YOUR viewing pleasure. Take these stars. **
Takao Omori, Black Menso-re & Carbell Ito © vs. TAJIRI, Yusuke Kodama & Hokuto Omori – AJPW 6-Man Tag Team Titles
While the midcard blood feud that led us here felt more like a series of TAJIRI tutorials on how to do belt shot finishes, this actually felt like a wrestling match. Legendary sponsored masked man Carbell Ito’s presence is always a bonus, both for the wonderful gear and inexplicably good-looking high spots. I love how he exclaims ‘’SAFE!’’ after all of them, as he’s clearly aware that him not dying on all these dives is nothing less than a miracle. Hokuto getting all the spotlight for the finish was the right call. **1/2
Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda vs. Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi
Doi and Kuma were likely going to walk away with the tag belts on this card, but the Suwama COVID booking reshuffle means we’ll have to wait a bit longer for that glorious air guitar celebration. As far as replacement matches go, you could do a lot worse than this one, as Young Honda has beef with Total Eclipse ever since he German suplexed Kuma straight into oblivion on a recent Korakuen card. I’m loving the new mentorship angle he has going with Ashino and this felt like a logical next step in all of these stories. Fired up performances coupled with hot suplexing action = good times. ***
Zeus, Izanagi, Shigehiro Irie & UTAMARO vs. CIMA, T-Hawk, El Lindaman & Issei Onitsuka
Big fan of the booking here, with T-Hawk and Linda getting set up as the probable next All Asia tag challengers. Get the belts on these guys, have them feud with Atsuki/HAYATO and just watch the magic happen. The match followed the usual fast-paced Strong Hearts tag template, all hectic crowd work and fancy double teams. Probably the most reliable template in wrestling right now. They played with Irie’s simultaneous Purple Haze/Strong Hearts affiliation for a bit, but quickly dropped that in favor of a straight-forward wrasslin’ burner. That T-Hawk/Zeus chop war was as tantalizing as it gets. ***1/4
Yoshitatsu vs. Yosuke Nishijima – Different Style Fight
Oh my god. A true kakutogi extravaganza from the warped mind of Yoshitatsu, the world’s only practitioner of Oudou Strong Style. I have no time for this stuff when it’s done with deeply serious intent, but the fairly obvious comedic vibes here hooked me right in. The commentary team going right for the Ali/Inoki hype, SHINJUKU FAMOUS Seigo Tachibana in Tatsu’s corner, the Inoki/Baba t-shirt to symbolize Yoshi’s ambitious pro-wrestling FUSION.
Even if the fight itself was a total bore, everything around it entertained me to no end. I mean, Tachibana doing the crouching Yakuza bit to Nishijima’s corner girl during the first-round intermission? Fucking gold. Also, spoiler alert: Tatsu winning this means he has reached the final stage of Inoki-ISM godhood. Legendary stuff.
Shuji Ishikawa © vs. Yuko Miyamoto – GAORA TV Title
Two former death match warriors putting their old Big Japan chemistry to good use in a very good wrestling match of the more straight forward VARIETY. They leaned into a natural David vs. Goliath dynamic, Miyamoto having to use his brain to get the upper hand on the giant. Big Match Yuko weaved in a fun legwork subplot that kept reappearing from time to time, eventually peaking with a mind-shattering BACKSPRING SHAWN CAPTURE! They also put a lot of effort in building up the Splash Mountain, Miyamoto repeatedly having an answer for it until he just ran out of answers. Strong performances from both guys, Shuj clearly intent on making his BJW buddy look like a million bucks. ***1/2
Koji Iwamoto © vs. Francesco Akira – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
I didn’t completely love this, but the feel-good result was hard to deny. Big time moment for Akira, especially if you’ve been following the kid’s trajectory from opening match fixture to tournament winner. As for the wrasslin’, they went for a super junior epic-type layout and a lot of it was right on the money. Iwamoto’s quite adept at playing the veteran wall – the first part of the match largely succeeding because of his brutal floor spots and constant cut-offs.
They did a great job babyfacing your favorite Italian Warrior Child, but some of the payoff felt a bit flat. Akira doesn’t have a whole lot of well-established late match offense – most of what he did on the comeback trail lacked drama or looked a bit weak. The emoting and likeability are there, now he just needs some more convincing signature spots for these high-end title matches (the weaksauce Oscutter variation is not it). ***1/2
Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Aoyagi – Triple Crown Gauntlet of Death
The deliberate headlocks and mandatory Kento/Wada bickering just felt like the wrong way to kick this off. If you have to wrestle multiple times in one night, you’d probably not want to waste any time, right? Thankfully, the action picked up in a major way once we hit the second third of the match. They basically had a repeat of their rocking Champ Carnival outing, Yuma once again coming off as Kento’s equal and leaping off the screen as the guaranteed Next Big Thing.
Not only did they bring back the next-level forearm trading viciousness and jaw-dropping spin kick/Blackout counters, they also added new bits of craziness to their big match formula with a god damn LEAPING DDT off the apron (!) and one of the greatest Japanese Legroll clutch near-falls you’ve ever seen. Terrific wrestling once they got past the early time-filling. PS – Yuma losing again to Kento doesn’t hurt him in the slightest. The kid is 25 years old. He’ll have his time. ***3/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Jake Lee – Triple Crown Gauntlet of Death
Aw man, I loved what they did here. First, the visuals. Jake walking out to his new final boss theme in full Dark Souls cosplay, then cracking an evil smile at the banged up and exhausted Miyahara was pure motion picture brilliance. Unlike the last match, they were at each other’s throats as soon as the bell rang and the action never let up. The hate levels were off the charts, Lee just toying with Kento and dodging his signature comebacks left and right. Dead on his feet and unable to go through his heelish early-match tropes, Miyahara was forced into the valiant babyface role – a real breath of fresh air considering how formulaic the man can be.
The way they used the apron Piledriver as a turning point to get Kento back in the game was inspired as hell. From then on, the story morphed into Jake trying to cut down the Ace’s superhuman resurgence and it made for some wild professional wrestling. The ending stretch packed all the best counters of their previous matches into a neat little package – The Dark Gentleman capping off this 10-minute rollercoaster ride with one of his most convincing wins yet. ****
Jake Lee vs. Yuma Aoyagi – Triple Crown Gauntlet of Death
Their Champ Carnival match might’ve been tighter, but this reached new heights in terms of pure drama and emotion. They followed the same logic as the last match, both guys beating the fuck out of each other right off the bat and not wasting any time. They played with the idea of babyfacing Jake for a bit, the fresher Yuma turning into a bit of a prick and going after his arm for a while. I dug how the arm work ended up playing into later sections of the match, where Jake had to switch to his non-damaged arm during forearm throwdowns. Some good wrestling nerd nourishment, right there.
The structure eventually reverted back to the more natural Heel Jake/Babyface Yuma dynamic, which was the right call considering how hot the crowd was for Baby Blue Aoyagi during the ending stretch. Both guys brought loads of intensity and did a great job selling the exhaustion of this Gauntlet nightmare. They pushed their luck by stretching out the action a bit too much near the end, but the character work and Jake’s absolutely genius Brainbuster counter for the Endgame kept me hooked. Very happy that they closed the show with these two. ****
