Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura vs. Jake Lee & Yuma Aoyagi – Real World Tag League
November 27th 2022. Remember this date. The day where pro-wrestling presentation peaked. We are (not quite) live from an open air-market with authorized crowd cheering and wrestlers are being offered vegetable baskets left and right. This is the way wrestling was always meant to be consumed. In a bold move, All Japan decided to celebrate the occasion by randomly throwing the best match of this year’s RWTL in the opening slot.
Backed by the next-level atmosphere, the boys had themselves a hard-fought near-30-minute banger that made terrific use of all dynamics on display. Takuya/Aoyagi revisited the sassy bitch-fest they had during this year’s Carnival while Kento/Jake cooked up some title match-level fireworks.
The whole thing improved on the Jake/Yuma draw from the last show, boasting minimal lag time during the heat segments and amping up the various tournament subplots with new twists and turns (including not one but TWO Kento Big Match Moves). Match of the tournament so far. ****
Ryuki Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi
In suitably shitty news, Gungnir of Anarchy are out of the tag league due to an Ashino shoulder injury. But FEAR NOT. AJPW have found a MORE than suitable replacement to partner up with Honda for the rest of the tour. Welcome to motherfucking Masao World. I was greatly amused by the layout here, as Honda and DoiKuma clearly wrestled with the intensity of their regularly scheduled league match, but also Masao Inoue was there. **1/4
Black Menso-re & Ryo Inoue vs. Ichiba Shin Ichi & Dan Tamura
To make up for the annoying shoot squash he had with Inoue on the last show, Hikaru Sato wrestled this match under a Kikutaro-esque masked gimmick. All is forgiven. The Osaka Pro vibes were strong – a good fit for this lively vegetable market crowd who ate up the mix of comedy and junior wrasslin’. Once Ryo figures out that Stretch Plum, he will beast out to new heights. **1/2
Yoshitatsu & TAJIRI © vs. Yusuke Kodama & Seigo Tachibana – All-Asia Tag Team Titles
A feel-good moment years in the making. Like two consummate professionals, Tatsu and Tachibana milked their 2020-2021 Yoshitatsu Kingdom mentorship storyline into a solid piece of All Asia tag business. The World Famous Bullet Club Hunter worked the match in cranky disciplinarian mode and the Crouching Bum got a sizeable babyface rub from his kicks. Elsewhere, TAJIRI and Kodama gave a lengthy demonstration on how to slap someone upside the head with a cool sound effect. ALL ASIA ALL THE TIME. ***
Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Hokuto Omori – Junior Battle of Glory
Very cool match that continued to cement the JBOG as an undeniable highlight of this tour. Propelled by a galaxy-brained layout (RKO Outta’ Nowhere at the bell), Atsuki and Hokuto were able to translate their years-long dojo friendship/rivalry into a tight junior wrasslin’ package.
Equal parts Fighting Spirit and Cool Shit, the match once again made great use of the tournament’s time limit and kept you on your toes for all 9 minutes. Both guys experimented with new spots to great results – Aoyagi with the Rolling Fisherman’s suplexes INTO Spinebomb Thing, Hokuto with a freakin’ POP-UP RKO. Lovely. ***1/2
Shuji Ishikawa & Cyrus vs. Jun Saito & Rei Saito – Real World Tag League
Big burly bros beefing around the market. Even with their usual clunky heel work, this was fairly in line with how I envision the optimal Saito Experience. Working with Ishikawa seemed especially fruitful for Rei who unleashed his inner-monster and ate a god damned shoot headbutt for his trouble. Cyrus was the most over of the bunch, instantly winning the Fujisawa folk by slamming the BE-JEEZUS out of those evil Saitos. Watching this guy work in front of cheering crowds is a total blast. ***
Suwama, KONO & TARU vs. Takao Omori, Yuji Nagata & Yuma Anzai
One of these rare occasions where Suwama’s voodoo murdering vision fully comes alive thanks to a wild, unrestrained crowd. Everything felt like a chaotic 80’s throwback – from the heels rampaging through the crowd Hansen/Brody-style to the FLOWER AMBUSH and subsequent territorial wrasslin-esque milking of the hot tag.
In terms of pure star rating VALUE, there were way better matches throughout the card, but this was the one that most captured the basic essence of wrestling. I was blown away by how much shine Anzai was allowed to get (Backdrop kickout!?). This dude is the absolute Protagonist of the Future. ***1/4
