Kaz Hayashi vs. Rising HAYATO
Fun clash between the past junior ace and a current rising star. I’ve been force-feeding you my firm political belief that the Atsuki/HAYATO matches harken back to the Kaz Hayashi/Puroresu Love era, so thank you All Japan for confirming my conspiracy theories. There were a few hiccups, but the core story of Veteran Hayashi cutting down HAYATO worked. Shoutout to HAYATO’s crazy-ass springboard death bump, which fed right into the Limb Work Subplot AS IT SHOULD. ***
Ryuki Honda, Yusuke Kodama, O Masahanabatake & Minoru Tanaka vs. Jun Saito, Rei Saito, Toshizo & TARU
Voodoo Defecting Legend Minoru Tanaka immediately adopting the Seigo/Hanabatake crouch during the intros warmed my heart. The match was standard voodoo murdering fare – a heel beatdown, a babyface comeback, foreign material usage. That being said, I dug the post-match BABYFACE RAGE from Minoru. **
Naoya Nomura vs. Yoshitatsu
Well. They certainly are leaning hard into the Nomura Minuteman gimmick. It’s a fun trick, but as a certified Yoshitatsu Respecter, I was actually looking forward to a normal wrasslin’ match here. One day perhaps, Nomura will step into the Yoshitatsu Kingdom and properly acknowledge its king by having a three-star encounter with him.
Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Dan Tamura vs. TAJIRI, Toru Yano & Black Menso-re
The time has come to say goodbye to TAJIRI. This controversial figure celebrated his final AJPW match by partying with some of the most powerful members of the New Japan roster. It was a match of the two-star variety where young Daniel Tamura got to experience the cultural delicacy known as the Kokeshi. With TAJIRI gone, I need to know who will step up to teach elaborate lucha armdrags to the dojo kids. **
Hokuto Omori, Yuma Anzai & Ryo Inoue vs. Yuto Nakashima, Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa
The last Interpromotional Young Boy Hatefest was a tough act to follow, but this came preeeetty close. Similar vibe as the October banger – angry juveniles straight-up destroying each other with elbows and slaps. Goofball Hokuto hesitantly walking onto the battlefield was a terrific visual made even better by him eventually showing the NJPW kids who’s boss. Meanwhile, the Anzai/Nakashima beef remains the ultimate highlight of these matches and their final exchange here was Tokyo Dome-worthy. All that is great about Japanese wrestling distilled into 10 minutes of pure ass kicking. ***3/4
Takao Omori vs. Manabu Soya
Shit’s about to GET WILD. Or is it? Former leopard-print bros Omori and Soya reunited for one night at the Budokan and life was good. To celebrate the birth of Christ, they stepped into the squared circle once again and had themselves a beefy heavyweight number. Considering the video package hype and how well-received their September reunion was, this felt a little one-sided. The work was sound and I love Soya’s offense (best bulldogging headlock in THE BIZ), but the lack of Omori comebacks was deflating. Hopefully, there’s more to this story. ***
Shuji Ishikawa, Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Suwama, Mayumi Ozaki & Maya Yukihi
Wild intergender romp that saw Oz Academy and Sendai Girls both make a great impression on the blessed Zen Nihon mat. They split the match between Ozaki S&M heel antics and Team 200KG powerhouse comebacks, the former Violent Giants letting the guests have all the shine.
No stranger to the concept of Kicking Men’s Asses (see her DDT matches), Chihiro absolutely stole the show by bringing the fight to Suwama. I was unsure how a grumpy bastard like the Wamster would take to intergender wrestling, but he proved me wrong and was more than game to make this work. If your family is really into whips, chains and lariats – then this was 100% fun for the whole family. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara, Atsuki Aoyagi, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jake Lee, Yuma Aoyagi, SANADA & BUSHI
The Departing Gentleman Jake Lee has been doing the Paradise lock for the past two months just so he could pop SANADA in this match. That’s what I call commitment. Thank God for that Final Nextream tag at Shin Kiba, because this would’ve been weird as a standalone Jake Lee Farewell match. It worked as an interpromotional crowd pleaser, but Jake came off as a side character.
Under the thick layers of in-fighting and fan service comedy, Yuma managed to get himself over by standing up to Toshiaki Kawada protégé Taichi. Loved the chemistry between these two – Aoyagi taking Dangerous T’s hardest kicks and carrying himself like a top star. The Kento antics and LIJ pose-thievery were as fun as ever, but there was no reason to drag this out for 30 minutes. ***1/4
