Shuji Ishikawa vs. Jun Saito – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
The key moment here was Middle-Aged Young Boy Jun Saito casually starting a slap war with the Violent Giant himself. There’s a clunky fearlessness about the guy that is already making him feel like somewhat of a big deal. It also helps that the AJPW veterans have been in a generous mood lately – allowing the Saito twins plenty of offense instead of working full-on squashes. Once he loosens up a bit and learns to sell better, Jun is going places. **1/2
Ayato Yoshida vs. Black Menso-re – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
2AW’s Yoshida seemed poised for big things in All Japan before COVID hit. The disintegration of JIN and eventual Jake Lee heel turn left the guy without much of a spot, so this tournament feels like the perfect opportunity to get him back in the picture. Not only did he come off as a star here, but he was also a good sport about Menso-re’s SHA-ISM and had a fun wrasslin’ match with the reptilian prankster. That countout tease spot was kind of genius. **3/4
Zeus vs. Seigo Tachibana – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
Coming off a feel-good 6-man tag title win on the last Korakuen show, SHINJUKU FAMOUS Seigo Tachibana was thrown right into the meat grinder here and I had a lovely time. Simple but effective wrestling all the way through – Seigo working towards the Back suplex for the entire match and having to pierce through the Z-Man’s relentless barrage of chops. Good mix of comedic facials early on and straight-forward babyface desperation later in the match from the Yoshitatsu disciple. ***
Takao Omori vs. Atsuki Aoyagi – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
UPSET CITY. Population: the blue boy wonder Atsuki Aoyagi. Old man Omori is an absolute saint for putting over so many youngsters. They worked with a logical Heavy/Junior template, Aoyagi flying all over the place until large Uncle Omori decided to put him back in his place. Omori going into full ‘Fuck them kids’ mode with that random chair shot on the floor was delightful. The veteran hadn’t had this kind of singles opportunity in a while, so you could tell he was trying to make the most of it. Some pretty juicy near-falls near the end. ***
T-Hawk vs. Rising HAYATO – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
This match confirmed a cold hard fact of life. Put T-Hawk in your tournament and it instantly becomes a must-watch event The man is on another level of galaxy-brained wrestling COMPREHENSION and can effortlessly drag three and half stars out of any wrestler in the country. No disrespect to HAYATO, who put in a good babyface performance, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the Hawkster. Beyond the razor-sharp execution, this guy will always reward the viewer with all the Little Things. Stuff like smashing HAYATO right in the back after a rope-break, talking shit at the crowd to rally them behind Rising and pulling out a brilliant SHOCKED facial for one of the late-match mega near-falls. The devil is in the details and T-Hawk understands this shit more than most wrestlers. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara vs. Yusuke Kodama – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
Kodama’s best AJPW match by a mile. The goth trickster showed great promise when Enfants Terribles showed up in 2020, but he’s been stuck in midcard purgatory for most of this year. THUS, this was a timely reminder that the guy can go and could do a lot more than TAJIRI belt shot 6-man tags. Miyahara went out of his way to make him look like a million bucks, skipping the usual floor headbutts segment and letting Kodama have most of the offense. And the offense looked tremendous! Big shoutout to the Eddie Guerrero atomico from halfway across the ring and nail-biting La Magistral near-fall. Despite a slightly flat finish, the match did more for Kodama’s stock than anything in the past 6 months. Time to get the guy back in the junior title picture. ***1/2
Shigehiro Irie vs. Kuma Arashi – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
Except for a recent tag title shot against Nextream, Kuma’s been stuck in the same kind of booking rut as Total Eclipse colleague Kodama. On the back burner for most of the year, this was an opportunity to remind the Zen Nihon faithful what he’s all about. Irie was a fitting dance partner for the occasion, similar in beefy brutality and mohawk appreciation. Arashi worked the match on top, which exposed some of his lack of offense, but things started cooking during the second half. The tasty lariat showdowns and gnarly comebacks from Irie eventually making for an entertaining hoss battle. ***1/4
Jake Lee vs. SUGI – Royal Road Tournament (Round 1)
Hell of a match between the heavyweight and junior champion of the Giant Baba Cinematic Universe. Jake’s newfound heel mean streak was ideal for this kind of story, as he not only stayed on top of the high-flyer with his considerable size advantage but also made sure to be a complete dick about it. The cut-offs looked hurty as hell and the laughing spots were delivered with on-point anime villain conviction. SUGI’s lack of personality doesn’t do him a lot of favors in these David vs. Goliath-type matches, but his creative comebacks and always-impressive high spots turned him into a fun underdog. While the masked man managed to get in plenty of cool offense during the ending stretch, it never felt like he had a chance of winning this thing and this was the right call. The Dark Gentleman Jake Lee came off as a force nature and that’s what you want in a Triple Crown champ. ***1/2
