AJPW really said:
Rising HAYATO & Ryo Inoue vs. Yusuke Kodama & Oji Shiiba
Fast-paced and straight to the point. HAYATO looked like a star and Kodama made sure to sell his loud-ass chops like comical death. Watching this crew in the Budokan is completely surreal. **1/2
Yoshitatsu, TAJIRI, Mitsuya Nagai & ATM vs. Izanagi, Black Menso-re, SUSHI & Andy Wu
ATM buying himself a spot on the Budokan card is legendary shit. The other highlight here was truly impeccable synergy between commentator Kagehiro Osano and the returning Mitsuya Nagai – Nagai busting out a stretch plum finish right after Osano shouted out his 2001 match with Kawada. **
Shuji Ishikawa, Kohei Sato & Yukio Naya vs. Jun Saito, Rei Saito & Cyrus
The freshly-returned Saitos are leathered up and have a banging new theme that sounds like a cross between Heart and Pat Benatar. The match was all meat pounding and fulfilled my midcard wrestling needs. Saitos 2.0 looked promising, but Cyrus stole the show and most of the crowd’s attention. **3/4
Minoru & Toshizo © vs. Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura – All-Asia Tag Team Titles
Well laid-out match and undeniably cool Wrestlemania Moment for Daniel Tamura. Finally winning the big one after months of Voodoo Murders ass whippings. This kid still can’t hit a lariat or Death Valley Bomb properly, but he has such likable babyface energy that it simply doesn’t matter. They inverted the usual dynamic and put Dan in the role of Hot Tag Recipient, saving Hikaru from the heel beatdown and getting all the glory. Wise decisions all around. ***
Minoru Suzuki vs. Hokuto Omori
Big-time career high for young Hokuto Omori who seized the moment and brought the fight to a stone-cold legend. This little twerp was such a natural fit for the Suzuki template match, trading forearms and unhinged facials with the Murder Grandpa (sorry) like it was just another day on the job.
This almost felt like the true culmination of this Total Eclipse run, as he got to test his new personality-based approach on the biggest possible stage and handily won over the crowd. The ridiculous timing on the rolling elbow counter and hints of hardway blood near the end were the icing on the cake. A delicious freakin’ cake. ***1/2
Yuji Nagata vs. Yuma Anzai – Yuma Anzai Debut Match
One of the more interesting wrasslin’ debuts in a while. All Japan are pulling out all the stops for this Anzai kid – an Osamu Suzuki live theme performance, high-profile opponents and assorted Jumbo Tsuruta comparisons from the commentary team. Given all the hype and probable nerves that come with debuting in the god damned Budokan, the fledgling super rookie did extremely well.
Nagata was right there with him every step of the way, but Anzai’s already showing a lot of good instincts and the fans seem fully on board. Are we looking at the new ZEN NIHON ACE? Stay tuned. ***1/4
Yuma Aoyagi vs. Christopher Daniels
Thoroughly enjoyed watching Yuma work the classic Christopher Daniels early 2000’s super indie layout – all handshake obsession, armdrags and rollup exchanges. CD brought a heelish edge with him to Japan, refusing to respect the Code of Honor and cutting down Mama Aoyagi’s Baby Boy for most of the match.
If this really was an AEW audition and not some elaborate scam, I’d say Yuma passed with flying colors. Lovely string of offense once he got on the comeback trail, including the rarely-seen Avalanche Rockstar Buster. I’m ready for a months-long feud on AEW Dark between him and QT Marshall. ***1/4
Masanobu Fuchi, Atsushi Onita & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Great Kojika, Yoshiaki Yatsu & Masao Inoue
I am the world’s biggest supporter of AJPW old men tag matches. Popped for The Fooch’s corner dropkick. Popped for the Great Kabuki mist spot. Dug all the geriatric greatest hits. That being SAID. Considering the NTV time restrictions on this show, it’s a bit maddening that this went 11 whole minutes while certain matches higher up the card (spoiler) had to be rushed.
Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda © vs. Takao Omori & Manabu Soya – AJPW Tag Team Titles
Total ass ripper of a match. Launched by an emotional video package and casual pre-match cameo from THE HOLY DEMON ARMY, this felt like a true clash between the past and present of the tag title scene. For those unfamiliar with 2012 AJPW lore, Omori and Soya used to terrorize the All Japan tag team division as Get Wild. Two thick bros with a knack for leopard prints and lariats.
Compact, beefy and hard-hitting were the adjectives of the day. With an arm-work subplot on the side for all of you insufferable nerds out there. The match followed in the footsteps of Ashino/Honda’s banging title win against Twin Towers and by this, I mean that everything ruled. Ashino and the returning Soya instantly reignited their freaky WRESTLE-1 chemistry and brought out the very best from each other.
Most of this was a bombs-fest but the ending stretch was even BOMBSIER. Tons of juicy near-falls and ridiculous double team carnage. As fun as they were as mortal enemies, there’s more money to be made with Ashino and Honda as a team. This is shaping up to be a landmark tag reign. ****
Tiger Mask © vs. Atsuki Aoyagi – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
If you’ve been keeping up with house shows like a true Zen Nihon Freak ™, then you know that high-flying cutie pie Atsuki Aoyagi has been on some kind of run. They did the right thing here, belting him up as a reward for all the flips and new pink hairdo.
Likely aware of the gravitas that comes with crowning a new junior ace in the Budokan, the FELINE FIEND Tiger Mask IV delivered his best AJPW performance yet. Equal parts veteran craft (ie: Working The Leg) and big match thrills (top-rope suplexes! Wacky armbar counters!) – this was TM4 at his Most Motivated. Aoyagi benefitted from this rare effort and garnered more support with each kickout. Good stuff. ***1/2
Jake Lee vs. Naoya Nomura
The Prince of Darkness Jake Lee. Is he the most cursed wrestler of all time? I’m leaning yes. When you tally the sheer amount of bad luck that this dude endured over the years, you end up with an unnatural amount of bad luck. I mean, they did their best with the 40 seconds available but the whole scenario just oozed pure sadness. Not a good look to have your former Triple Crown champ/#2 Guy get punked this badly on the biggest show of the year.
Suwama © vs. Kento Miyahara – Triple Crown
A fitting conclusion to All Japan’s return to Budokan. The dual aces of the Akiyama era duking it out for the top prize and supplying four stars worth of professional wrestling. This is what this BUSINESS is all about. These guys have had way better matches, but they have such sure-fire chemistry that even a lesser Kento/Wama match is better than most matches. Ironically, the NTV time restrictions ended up helping their structure, as Miyahara had to cut down 100% of his bickering spots with old man Wada.
Escalation is the name of the game whenever these two meet and this was no exception. Suwama brought an endless supply of raging Kaiju fury and Kento gave it right back with his deranged facials and superhuman power-ups. I’m sure they had a lot more stuff planned initially, but we still got a Wama/Hansen confrontation, the Jumbo Tsuruta Dropkick of Death and the extremely rare Shutdown kickout.
They probably have more bangers left in them, but this feels like a good place to leave the Kento/Wama story for a while. If AJPW make it back to their sacred homebase in 2023, they would be wise to use this latest Kento reign to create some new (rock) stars for the next Budokan headline spot. ****
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