Shuji Ishikawa vs. T-Hawk – Champion Carnival (Block A)
The easiest way to have a good wrestling tournament is to put T-Hawk in your wrestling tournament. It really is that simple. Big Shuj must love this man as much as I do because he let him stay on offense for 90% of this match.
A wise decision if there ever was one, as the Hawkster pulled the always-impressive balancing act of pleasing a live crowd (aka. constant babyface interactions) and pleasing insufferable nerds on Twitter (aka. Working The Leg). The constant knee dropkick cut-offs were tremendous and I’m still shook by that wild back and forth where he snuck in a tricky drop-toe-hold to setup the Cerberus. Very cool match. ***1/2
Yuma Aoyagi vs. Takuya Nomura – Champion Carnival (Block B)
Ridiculously entertaining bitch-fest – up there with Kento/Kuma as a current top match of the tournament. While Yoshitatsu responded to Nomura’s aggressive style by pulling rank and going full shooter, Aoyagi took a completely different approach. This brat cranked the troll-meter to 11 – fake crying after the opening slap and literally spanking the BJW lad. There’s no other way around it: this shit is Future Ace material.
The straight wrestling sections were simple but effective, both guys leaning into the interpromotional hatred to get from point A to point B. I have a feeling we’re just scratching the surface with this Nomura Carnival run. Can’t wait to see him against Wama and Kento. ***3/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Suwama – Champion Carnival (Block B)
These two are over enough that they could’ve coasted on their charisma for the entire 30-minute run time, but they ended up having a banger with plenty of meat around the bone. Once they got past an admittedly stretched-out floor brawling section, the working boots were put firmly on. I must reiterate that Big Wama is an underrated Worker of the Leg and his Leg Work game was in full effect here.
The big man knows how to take a story full circle – what with him kicking the bad leg to get out of the first Shutdown attempt. That’s right, I understand wrestling. Meanwhile, Miyahara was very much in Big Match Mode – juggling comedy with dramatic selling and fiery babyface comebacks. That late-match Frankensteiner is the greatest possible addition to his repertoire. Take these stars, god damnit. ****
