Oji Shiiba vs. Ryo Inoue
Lost Dragon Gate trainee Oji Shiiba was first introduced to All Japan’s undercard as polished junior-type wrestler who could fit in any possible 6-man tag lineup. In a shocking twist, recent house shows revealed that this man had a secret skill-set that went beyond working fast and clean. Yes, I’m referring to his propension for kicking the living shit out of people.
Oji’s foot-based approach was a perfect fit for THE PURPLE MENACE Ryo Inoue – a boy who watched too many Shibata matches and now wants to prove his fighting spirit by absorbing loud punishment. Shin Kiba was 100% up for this rowdy kick-fest, cranking up the heat and turning the last minutes into a proper nail-biter. United by stiffness and regional affiliation (Kyushu Boyz), these warriors will now enter the junior tag league as ONE. Beautiful. ***1/2
Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda vs. Yoshitatsu & Black Menso-re
With Nomuyagi finding themselves neck deep into interpromotional warfare with NOAH, it seems like the inevitable showdown between them and the Sunglasses Squad will have to wait. GOA may not have a money-making storyline at the moment, but that didn’t stop them from having three freakin’ stars worth of wrestling with the legend Black Menso-re. Again, this was a case of Shin Kiba turning every basic interaction into deeply enjoyable pro-wrestling moments. Ashino tried to annihilate Menso-re’s mask and gave him a god damned giant swing. What more do you need from this LIFE? ***
The Big Dog Yoshiki Inamura is here and he wants a piece of Kento!? God bless this large man.
Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs. Takao Omori & Ren Ayabe
When the Saito Brothers started out, Jun was miles ahead of the clumsier Rei. In their current Voodoo Murdering phase, the roles have been reversed and Rei now feels like the more interesting one. This 35-year-old youngster has been discovering the joys of Monster Wrestling for the past few months and it’s been a fun ride. He enthusiastically put his recent improvements to good use here – slapping, splashing and lariat’ing the be-jeezus out of fellow tall person Ren Ayabe. **3/4
Kento Miyahara, Kotaro Suzuki & Rising HAYATO vs. Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori
To the surprise of no one, the Kento Miyahara 6-Man Birthday Bash kicked a whole lot of ass. The match succeeded on three fronts: teasing the viewer with delicious Kento/MiSu possibilities, hyping up the Doi/HAYATO junior title match and continuing the Hokuto Omori elevation process. Hokuto my man, if you’re reading this – I am begging you to bring back volume and texture to your hair. Other than that, you’re doing awesome and absolutely killed it with that German suplex counter to the Kento dropkick sequence. PS – Everyone in this company is so absurdly over. Great vibes. ***1/4
Yuma Aoyagi vs. Suwama
Considering his status as a Champion Carnival winner and current World Tag champ – should Yuma still be getting destroyed this badly by the Wamster? Booking confusion aside, I have no further complaints because I’m a complete sucker for the Suwama Squash match format. At 46 years of age and without any clear storyline to latch on to, this man still feels like the most dangerous force in wrestling and I could watch him beat up my favorite wrestlers all day. Even if he should be past this, Aoyagi plays a terrific babyface underdog and truly excels at getting his ass kicked. ***1/4
Yuji Nagata, Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuma Anzai
AJPW once again confirming their status as the reigning kings of house show 6-man tags. This was our first look at the Nagata/Big Shuj dynamic and there might be something to this thing. There’s a lot of Nagata throwing the weakest strikes ever and Ishikawa responding with full-force forearms. I can envision this turning into compelling Old Man Drama in their Triple Crown match. Elsewhere, babyface in peril Anzai got a university-level lesson in Selling The Arm. Truly one of the most important curriculums in wrestling. To round things off, the ridiculously-over Atsuki and Daniel Tamura had a mini-banger, popping the crowd with their razor-sharp Flippery vs. Power Wrasslin’ sequences. ***1/2
