Hokuto Omori & Rising HAYATO vs. Hikaru Sato & Ryo Inoue
As a consolation prize for not reaching the finals of the Junior Battle of Glory, these four men were given the COVETED Korakuen Hall opening slot. They had 7 minutes of wrestling worthy of this breezy tournament, HAYATO and Omori working surprisingly well as a team despite their contrasting personas. Onwards and upwards. **1/2
Shuji Ishikawa & Cyrus vs. Ryuki Honda & Izanagi
Pleasant little midcard burner that revealed shockingly-good beef chemistry between Cyrus and the grinning marshmallow warrior Ryuki Honda. Because Cyrus is so good at making all of his bumps count, Honda taking him down with that big lariat felt like a proper moment. Also, holy shit at that turnbuckle Exploder!? Nikkan Lee’s reaction was even better. **3/4
Yusuke Kodama & Seigo Tachibana © vs. Yoshitatsu & TAJIRI vs. Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. Black Menso-re & ATM – 4-Way Match – All-Asia Tag-Team Titles
A true celebration of the All Japan Undercard Cinematic Universe. ATM once again provided insightful social commentary on our crumbling financial structures, Tatsu and Seigo reignited their Yoshitatsu Kingdom beef and Kodama committed to his contractually-obliged tope con hilo. Also Masao Inoue won. I have no complaints. **1/4
NOSAWA aka. Black Tiger Freakin’ 7 is here for some reason.
Jake Lee & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi – Real World Tag League
This group of combatants was tasked with providing you three stars worth of professional wrestling and they accomplished their mission. There were some fun subplots here that elevated this into above average tag league territory, notably Yuma milking an early Brainbuster for all of its babyface worth and Jake/Doi TOTAL ECLIPSING the competiton with unexpectedly cool chemistry. Lovely ending stretch between Yuma and Kuma too – these two always have a very pleasant dynamic. ***1/4
Suwama & KONO vs. Yuji Nagata & Yuma Anzai – Real World Tag League
ANZAI NEW HERO! The road to the upset of all upsets was a bit bumpy (could’ve done without the Wada fuckery), but the result remained pretty earth-shattering. Fast-tracking rookies is not standard procedure for All Japan, so we’re witnessing a special – dare I say HISTORIC – storyline in real time. The rest of the match was mostly a Nagata showcase and he gave one of his better performances of the whole tournament. All geriatric resilience and fiery ass kicking. ***1/4
Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura vs. Jun Saito & Rei Saito – Real World Tag League
The Saitos’ first high-ish profile match with Kento mostly worked. Their signature clunkiness is still very much there, but they seemed to have a blast throwing themselves into Miyahara’s ring-side rampaging. The core story of Takuya fighting off the two giants was good stuff and built nicely into the big babyface finish. Loved the visual of Nomura snatching on the sleeper in the middle of a freakin’ TARU Powder Fog. ***
Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Dan Tamura – Junior Battle of Glory Finals
Very much like Atsuki’s Korakuen main event with HAYATO, this was a match that attempted to bring All Japan junior heavyweight wrestling into the year 2022. While Atsuki/HAYATO projected near-Dragon Gate vibes, this retained a lot of classic AJPW features alongside the more modern tropes. We got the classic Kobashi/Misawa armdrag opening, apron spot teasing and Learned Psychology-style callbacks to their last match. The sense of tradition is strong with these kids.
Even by clap crowd standards, the reactions felt a bit cold but it didn’t stop Aoyagi and Daniel from putting on a banger. Dan seemed especially energized by the prospect of going Full Big Match and delivered a career performance. From the opening tope suicida to the rarely-seen super moves (gutwrench suplex into the buckles!?) – Suwama’s disowned son seized the moment and proved that he belonged.
Like in the aforementioned HAYATO match, there was a feeling of both guys still trying to figure out some of the high-stakes wrasslin’ intangibles. The ideas and execution are all there, but they’ll reach another level once the boys master the MINUTIAE of pro-wrestling drama. Still, watching them get there is pretty exciting. Special shoutout to the insane Reverse Franken’ bump from Dan. ***3/4
Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Cyrus – Real World Tag League Finals
Let’s kick this off by stating some factual information. This was the best RWTL final since the 2019 Violence Giants/JIN epic. It might not have been the intended final (see: Ashino shoulder injury), but these teams made the most of the opportunity and had an absolute face-melter.
Big Shuj and Cyrus’ MONSTER INC. dynamic hinted at great things throughout the tournament and this is where it all came together. They cranked up the monstrosity to 11 and unleashed a truckload of mayhem on the league’s most-unlikely friendship. Kento and Takuya both bumped their asses off to make this work – the comedic vibe of their previous matches turning into a life-or-death struggle here.
Perched on top of the crunchy David vs. Goliath layout was a Strong BJ-esque throwdown between Nomura and Ishikawa that helped raise the tension another level. Nomura perfectly captured the mood of modern-day All Japan by peppering in some comical reactions in the middle of a full-force forearm slug-fest. The guy gets it.
An insane sequence of events (Takuya top-rope leaping slap!? Big Shuj straight-up no-selling the Follow Back) led to a Kento/Ishikawa closer on par with their batshit Triple Crown match from March. The man loves to fuck around, but at the end of the day, no one does big match drama like Kento Miyahara. Just a pure rollecoaster of a wrestling match that had me cackling from bell to bell. ****1/4
