Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata vs. Masao Inoue & Dan Tamura
It is Christmas week in Shin Kiba 1st RING and the Japanese government psy-op known as ‘’Wada Kyohei’’ is in full effect. This man is not a mere referee. He is the entire wrestling match. In spite of the large amounts of Wada dementia and Masao World exploration in this thing, the ending stretch reached mind-boggling levels of radness.
PS – During my RWTL review rampage, I forgot to mention that Seigo Tachibana changed his name to Masao Hanabata. It is 100% unclear whether this is a temporary thing while he feuds with Masao Inoue or a permanent change. I love a good mystery. **1/4
Suwama vs. Takao Omori
A match where the controversial VOW backstage scoopz came to life before our very eyes. Who will take creative control of AJPW? Suwama and his Voodoo Vision or old man Omori and his anti-WWE protectionism!? According to the ending of this match, we may not be out of the RAW is ZEN NIHON era just yet. Before the mandatory Wama fuckery, this was headed in real solid Champion Carnival midcard burner territory. Omori’s spit sell of the Wamster’s corner lariat was a god damned work of art and you must respect it. **1/2
Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs. Yoshitatsu & TAJIRI
The Zen Nihon Freaks™ in Shin Kiba gave TAJIRI full babyface support for his second to last AJPW match and it made for a charming clusterfuck. The many talents of All Japan’s on-and-off bookerman were on full display – from the Charlie Chaplin-ISM comedy to the crowd-popping mist spots. The Undercard Cinematic Universe will miss this conniving creature. **
Black Menso-re vs. Izanagi
Much like TAJIRI and The Departing Gentleman Jake Lee, Izanagi is leaving the territory. As he’ll be joining President Zeus in Osaka Pro, fellow masked artist Black-Mensore was a fitting final opponent for him. After all, these two were very much the Ebessan/Kuishinbo Kamen pairing of the COVID AJPW era. Shin Kiba ate up their non-sense for one last time and also Tiger Kihara gave a (muted) Karaoke performance!? I will never forget you Atsushi Maruyama.
Atsuki Aoyagi & Hokuto Omori vs. Rising HAYATO & Ryo Inoue
You might remember these four from a pleasant tournament known as the Junior Battle of Glory 2022. From a coolness perspective, they’re very much looking like the new pillars of the junior division. And they wrestled like it, having an action-packed crowd-pleaser where Ryo Inoue fit in seamlessly with his more experienced JUNIOR BRETHREN (I immediately regret this sentence). The mechanics and freakin’ fluidity of it all were as inspiring as ever – Atsuki casually throwing out a Misdirection Quebrada like a true Toryumon binge-watcher. Hell of a good time. ***1/2
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuma Anzai
Only a few months into his career, boy wonder Yuma Anzai has already had two seminal matches. The interpromotional schoolyard scrap from October and now this. A Michael Bay-sized, jacked-up take on the Veteran Destroys Rookie subgenre. When it comes to these hierarchy-based matches, Japanese wrestling deviates so rarely from the norm that this felt like a proper event.
Coming off a tag league upset over Heel Ace Suwama, Anzai took the beating of a lifetime and survived to tell the tale. Not only did he survive, but he fought back like a motherfucker and was allowed to kick out of an inordinate amount of Stuff – the perfect storm for a rowdy Shin Kiba crowd. 14 minutes of the nastiest foreams you’ll find anywhere in wrestling and legit-shocking babyface comebacks.
The kind of match that flirts with horror movie thrills. You watch certain parts through your hands but the excitement is unbeatable. Peak wrasslin’. ****
Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura
The Nextream boys go long for one last time. The pairings were decided via lottery and interestingly, it led to a rematch of the 2019 RWTL semi-finals. Jake and Nomura were collectively known as JIN at the time and both have gone through their own Gritty Reboots since then. Kento and Yuma have been divorced since 2021, but you can tell they’re still itching to play around together.
This felt like they couldn’t quite decide if the Final Nextream match would be amusing fan-service or a full-on workrate banger. THUS, it landed right in the middle. There were long stretches of comedy mixed with crowd brawling filler and actual red hot King’s Road wrasslin’. Not the most consistent 30-minute draw, but seeing these four mix it up for one (probable) last time packed enough of an emotional punch to make it work.
While there was a clear bittersweetness to all the Kento/Jake exchanges, it was Yuma and Nomura who ended up stealing the show – especially in the latter part of the match. These boys have a stone-cold classic in them and I absolutely lost my shit at Aoyagi’s roll-through Endgame counter to Nomura’s spear cradle. Losing Jake Lee is a complete bummer, but I’m looking forward to Yuma and Naoya grabbing more spotlight in his absence. ***1/2
