Hikaru Sato, Dan Tamura & Rocky Kawamura 2 vs. Black Menso-re, Andy Wu & SUSHI
The All Japan undercard. A magical place where you might see SUSHI throw a shoot headbutt. I’m happy to report that Kawamura has successfully reinvented himself as ‘Rocky Kawamura 2’ – same guy but now with a wig. Menso-re and Rocky 2 crystalized Inoki’s vision of pro-wrestling with their Boxing vs. Eye Poke battle. Looks like the recently-revived IGF just found their new top stars. **1/2
Jake Lee vs. Takao Omori – Royal Road Tournament (Semi-Finals)
COVID has robbed us of a guaranteed semi-final banger between The Dark Gentleman Jake Lee and Naoya Nomura, but fear not – Old man Omori is here to work the leg. Omori gave the former Total Eclipse tyrant a 5-minute run for his money, popping Korakuen with his signature spots and geriatric resilience. Could Jake’s very good Selling of the Leg be a preview of an upcoming subplot in tonight’s finals!? Stay tuned… **3/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Yuji Nagata – Royal Road Tournament (Semi-Finals)
Dancing With The Stars: The Wrestling Match. Yes, these two have been engaging in deep psychological warfare over the past few months. They were able to translate their dance-based melodrama into one half of a pretty good match – Nagata ultimately shitting the bed for Kento’s comebacks in the second half. Everything before that was pretty swell though. What with Nagata working the arm like an old pro and Kento bringing the selling and facials. ***
Shuji Ishikawa, Ren Ayabe & Ryo Inoue vs. Yoshitatsu, TAJIRI & Cyrus
Little Ryo stepping up to Cyrus to start the match was epic. This kid will go far. How was the wrestling, you ask? It was solid, okay? **1/4
Shotaro Ashino, Ryuki Honda, Yusuke Kodama & Seigo Tachibana vs. Suwama, TARU, KONO & Toshizo
GUNGNIR OF ANARCHY. It is time to embrace this multifaceted new faction. Numerous rich themes are on display – Norse mythology, JRPG’s, WRESTLE-1, sunglasses. These things all fit together perfectly. Unfortunately, their first official outing was a Voodoo Murders ass whooping. Thankfully, they still got a chance to unleash their secret weapon – an all-sunglasses 4-man dropkick combo. Impressive. **1/2
Yuma Aoyagi, Hokuto Omori & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Takuya Nomura, Rising HAYATO & Oji Shiiba
Not on the level of most of the Nextream/Hontai 2.0 tags from the rest of this tour, but still pretty fun. After spending years as a lovable scumbag in Total Eclipse, Hokuto’s making a smooth transition in the babyface world. Less cheating spots and more chef’s kisses. Just what the doctor ordered. Once HAYATO stops hesitating during his springboard backflip taunt, his sassy K-Pop gimmick will reach a whole new level. I believe in him. ***
Kento Miyahara vs. Jake Lee – Royal Road Tournament (Finals)
Well well well… Looks like we meet again, Kento Miyahara vs. Jake Lee. I will tell you right now that I enjoyed this one slightly more than the Ota-ku title match from June. Again, they’ve had better, but something about this flew more cohesively than their last meeting.
The early stages felt very Heel vs. Heel – in the most entertaining possible way. Both guys leaning into their personalities and bringing the fireworks. They built the match around a wild character arc for Kento, in which your favorite Dumb Ace kicked things off in full No-Selling Asshole mode, only to be gradually babyfaced by Jake’s infamous Laughing Stomach Work.
Things got slightly meta at the mid-way point, Jake capping off a brutal forearm exchange by busting out Big Match Yuma Aoyagi’s fake KO trickery. Kento himself used to pull this insanity back in the day, so what does it all mean? Is this a hint towards Jake fully embracing the Aoyagi Brothers’ lighter side, or simply a nod at Nextream’s eternal interconnectedness!?
While you were pondering the mysteries of the All Japan Cinematic Universe, these maniacs were already going full blast with a meaty ending stretch that saw Kento bring out some of his more ELUSIVE big match spots. The Kensuke Sasaki lariat. The KENTOSTEINER. The Japanese leg roll freakin’ CLUTCH. All great shit that turned his predictable win into a still-pretty-cool-moment. Wrestling! ****
