HARASHIMA vs. MAO – D-Oh Grand Prix (Block B)
There’s a spot in this match where MAO throws the ‘’Look over there’’ straight punch – one of the signatures he’s been using throughout the tournament. Instead of just taking it, HARASHIMA is so incensed by this bullshit that he immediately slaps the lights out of poor MAO and starts booting his head right off.
This is why HARASHIMA rules. At 47, his glory days are behind him, but he still wrestles like the Ace. The match had a lot of similarly satisfying moments – from the shoot-flavored matwork opening to MAO bringing his headscissors counter game to new levels. A thinking man’s wrasslin’ match that looked all kinds of beautiful against the KBS Hall back drop. ***1/4
Kazusada Higuchi vs. Chris Brookes – D-Oh Grand Prix (Block B)
Brookes working these chest-pounding slug-fests has been kind of a revelation. He did a great job getting his ass kicked by Okabayashi and looked even better here – stepping up and having a meathead mash with the meatiest head in DDT. Loved the way they laid this baby out, with Brookes initially attempting to take out the Goocher’s chopping hand before gradually manning up and throwing some blows of his own.
Needless to say, Higuchi is a true expert of the Slug Festival and his commitment to the Art of Beef proved to be a great asset here. The man will sell, mug and show frightening indignation if you try to shoot headbutt him. They also put the best kind of finish together, the kind that wraps up all plot threads at once and makes it look effortless. Many thumbs up. ***3/4
Tetsuya Endo vs. The Bodyguard – D-Oh Grand Prix (Block A)
Extremely dry but somewhat competent wrestling? They went all in with the Bodyguard template layout of basic hoss shtick and rest holds, Endo fighting from underneath and picking his spots. As jarring as it was to see the young boys cheering for Babyface Endo at ring-side, it actually ended up making him a lot more likable. Shoutout to Bodyger’s sweet axe kick fakeout THING. This man’s body is prepared for hand-to-hand combat. **3/4
Jun Akiyama vs. Naomi Yoshimura – D-Oh Grand Prix (Block A)
A rock-solid Jun Akiyama learning experience for the Reggaeton Don Naomi Yoshimura. Uncle Jun was in a generous mood here, letting the youngster have most of the match in hopes he would figure out the mysteries of the Control Segment. A bit of a double-edge sword, as Yoshimura isn’t 100% there yet, but damn if Akiyama didn’t try his best to bring some real nastiness out of him. Despite a slight lack of killer instinct from Naomi, the mechanics were on point and so were those late-match near-falls. ***1/4
Yuki Ueno vs. Yuji Hino – D-Oh Grand Prix (Block A)
Pretty much the match you wanted these guys to have. A textbook Big Man Wrestles Small Man-type journey, one of wrestling’s greatest subgenres when it’s done by people who know what they’re doing. Hino always makes his opponent work for every scrap of offense and he seemed particularly intent on making Ueno suffer here. As seen by the marks left on his chest, the smiley babyface was literally torn to shreds.
There was a great bit where Ueno got chopped so much that he became borderline delirious, cackling at the ridiculous amount of pain and then nearly passing out the next second. Give this young man an Oscar already. They stayed true to their story all the way to the end and even found a clever way to protect Hino’s monster aura in defeat, turning the WR into an insta-shock-finish of pure delight. Loved all of this wrestling. ***3/4
