Ryo Inoue vs. Oji Shiiba
You might be wondering who this Oji Shiiba fellow is. As an investigative journalist (I looked at Cage Match dot net), I can tell you that this youngster started off as a Dragon Gate rookie and somehow veered off into local indie obscurity. He made his AJPW debut by smartly paying tribute to the ultimate Zen Nihon gaijin LEGEND – The Whole F’N Show Rob Van Dam. That’s right. **1/2
Izanagi © vs. Black Menso-re vs. Toshizo vs. Yusuke Kodama – 4-Way Ladder Match (GAORA TV Title)
The transition is complete. The GAORA TV title has officially gone from the Slug-Fest Belt to the Clusterfuck Multiman Matches That Weirdly Exceed Expectations Belt. These lovable midcarders kept you engaged with a highly-advanced mix of comedy (World’s shortest ladder) and big ladder bumps. Kodama stole the show thanks to his willingness to die for This Business. ***
Masanobu Fuchi, Takao Omori & ATM vs. Yoshitatsu, Masao Inoue & SUSHI
It wouldn’t be an All Japan supershow without an old man comedy banger. This had it all: the return of MASAO WORLD, a god damn Fuchi Backdrop and most important of all: ATM working his magic by trying to buy off everyone. This man is the greatest addition to the All Japan undercard since Hellboy. **
Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Rising HAYATO
Very much the action-packed 10-minute burner you wanted these two to have. Love Atsuki and HAYATO as partners, but there’s clearly some money to be made with them as rivals. Both seem to be on the same page about moving the junior division away from the crafty technical wrestling era (Aoki, Hikaru, Susumu, etc) and back to the cutting-edge high spot era (Kenny/Kaz/Kondo, etc).
The lucha armdrags were on point and the bumps were massive (HAYATO is a complete maniac for that slingshot hilo to the floor). What Atsuki might lack in emoting and drama, HAYATO makes up for with his top-notch babyfacing and selling. They’re really made for each other. ***1/2
Naoya Nomura vs. Hokuto Omori
Hollywood Naoya Nomura and his weight belt are back to take AJPW by storm and that’s a god damn shoot, brother. The match was violent and straight to the point – a note-perfect reintroduction for Nomura the former Future Pillar turned Angsty Invader. This man has seen some shit while working Capture/GanPro and will use his newfound knowledge of indie sleaze secrets to climb back to the top. Hokuto played his part to a tee – buckets of hate and sweet suplexes. BACHI BACHI. ***1/4
Hikaru Sato © vs. Tiger Mask – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
Even the usual high-level performance from Hikaru couldn’t salvage much from 2022 Tiger Mask IV. As an expert in wrestling, I will tell you right now that nothing here (other than the result) was outright offensive and most of the work was actually solid. But Tiger Mask is such a black hole of charisma that I found myself dozing off whenever the tide shifted in his favor.
All of his lifeless comebacks stood out in a bad way when contrasted with Sato’s laser-focused offense. With so many of the young dudes stepping up this year, this epic Hikaru reign would’ve been the perfect platform to take one of them (Atsuki) to the next level. I don’t know. Puzzling. ***
Yuma Aoyagi vs. Shuji Kondo
About one Yuma comeback short of reaching the COVETED Three and a Half Star plateau, but still rock-solid. A natural dynamic quickly fell into place – Aoyagi’s white meat babyface offensive flurries blending well with Kondo’s powerhouse leanings. Please be aware that I am in awe of Kondo’s dropkick bumps.
This man and All Japan Pro-Wrestling are a match made in heaven. The Voodo Murders affiliation might frighten you, but much like with Minoru Tanaka, we would all benefit from regular AJPW Kondo bookings. Also, Nextream is in tatters but the AOYAGI BROS will ride into the future. Stay tuned. ***1/4
Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato © vs. Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda – AJPW Tag Team Titles
Want some superlatives? How about these bad boys – best match of the Twin Towers reign and easy AJPW tag MOTY. Another apt descriptor would be Brain Damage: The Movie. They basically took all the best bits from recent Big Shuj/Honda and Ashino/Kohei encounters, removed all the filler and added even more shoot headbutts.
Just non-stop ass pounding with Honda getting thoroughly annihilated in the first half and Hot Tag Ashino proving to be the difference-maker in the second. Everyone went full Beast Mode – Blues Brothers 2K22 even bringing back their hilariously ill-advised Final Event/Superplex combo. I was half-expecting the WRESTLE-1 reunion to be a temporary gimmick, so thank you Yoshihiro Tajiri for proving me wrong. These boys deserve a proper run. ****
Suwama & TARU vs. Yuji Nagata & Dan Tamura
The Voodoo murders are generating much anguish in the All Japan Twitter landscape, but I’m digging the story so far. These matches have a gnarly 80’s territorial vibe, poor Dan Tamura getting wrecked by pushup boards, dog collars and assorted TARU black magic. Best of all, Big Wama feels at his most dangerous and I love me some Dangerous Wama. The riceball introduction was worth plenty of stars on its own. ***
Kento Miyahara © vs. Jake Lee – Triple Crown
While this lacked the peaks of pure hatred found in their best matches, it did have plenty of meat around the bone for Kento/Jake academicians. A lot of the match felt like a Greatest Hits compilation, both guys piling on the callbacks and adding new twists to some of their signature tropes.
They went back to the Jake Lee Hungry For Some Ribs subplot of the 2021 CC finals, pulled out the surprise Kensuke lariats of their 60-minute broadway and even threw in some classic 2019 apron German suplex fuckery for good measure. Kind of a love-letter to their entire rivalry.
As a long-time CONSUMER of AJPW TV, it was hard not to play the comparison game with all these other great matches. I will not lie to you, gentle reader, the limb work wasn’t as engaging as the 60-min match, Jake’s beatdown wasn’t as vicious as last year’s CC final and the bomb-fest outro wasn’t as tight as those of 2018 and 2019.
What this had over the previous matches was the sheer moment of it all. The Dark Gentleman Jake Lee finally triumphing over his eternal frenemy in a Triple Crown match. That massive Ota-ku pop for the finish and emotional post-match with Kobashi validated the booking. A turning point in modern AJPW lore. ***3/4
