Kotaro Suzuki vs. Dan Tamura – Royal Road (Round 1)
A blistering tournament kickoff that saw Kotaro’s veteran craft collide with Dan’s underdog spunk. They kept the pedal to the floor but still took the time to dabble in Suzuki’s science-based structures. Yes, I am referring to the man’s propension for ravaging someone’s tummy. The crunchy cutoffs landed on the money and so did young Daniel’s lariat-based comebacks. Korakuen Hall was 200% behind the beloved rice farmer, turning an already-pretty-great ending stretch (Blue Destiny kickout!?) into a full-on celebration of all that is Daniel Tamura. TLDR: we are so back. ***1/2
Hokuto Omori vs. Takuya Nomura – Royal Road (Round 1)
Blue Hokuto took every lesson learnt from his latest big match trials (last month’s Triple Crown and World Tag challenges) and repackaged them into a 10-minute banger where he almost came off as Takuya Nomura’s equal. Using Nomura’s short temper against him, Omori put it all together and felt like a bigger deal than in any of his Champion Carnival outings. The chemistry was on point – Hokuto’s famously slappable face making an ideal target for Nomura’s loud hands. Everything from the crowd sequence to the suplex-heavy finish kept me firmly engaged, fist-pumping and loving pro-wrestling. ***3/4
Satoshi Kojima vs. Rei Saito – Royal Road (Round 1)
Satisfactory throwdown between the howling beast Raymond Saito and the traveling old man Satoshi Kojima. There have been better Rei matches throughout this year’s Carnival, but this still boasted plenty of quality moments for all the Saitomaniacs out there. Rei eating the nose patch was worth three stars alone and the layout wasn’t half bad either – Kojima’s ragged corpse fighting from underneath and gradually overcoming his supersized opponent. ***1/4
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Ren Ayabe – Royal Road (Round 1)
Considering Ayabe’s limited personality and all-around awkwardness, this turned into a minor miracle. Big Shuj went out of his way to make his towering protégé look like a million bucks and structured the match perfectly to hide his weaknesses. Even if some of his offense felt too light for a Shuji Ishikawa match, Ayabe chewed the scenery during the big character moments and oozed bravado when it mattered the most. The 1-count near-fall and humongous slap spot went a long way to establish JTO’s gentle giant as more than a friendly undercard guest star. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi © vs. Yuji Nagata & Ryuki Honda – AJPW Tag Team Titles
Kento and Yuma pulling out this kind of performance for a pairing as random as Nagata/Honda was nothing less than shocking. This tells me two things. Not only are they extremely high on Honda (and rightfully so), but they are likely trying to make the absolute most of this World Tag run as it could be their last one together, now that Yuma’s finally reached the Triple Crown.
The first comparison that comes to mind here is the Miyaken To Takuya/Nomuyagi Korakuen slobberknocker from January. This had the same frenetic pace, absurdly-high workrate and spreadsheet-destroying performances. All action all the time, complete with a perfectly tailored character arc for Honda who went from eating a vicious beatdown to working a world class ending stretch with Kento.
Nagata had his working boots on and maximized his weird alliance with Honda – the stereo Nagata Lock and Exploder spots recalling his early 2000’s bromance with Jun Akiyama. We also got the rarely-seen double-arm suplex and rope-draped neck screw from this old man who keeps making me eat my words by delivering in every title match that All Japan throws at him.
Who knows what this match would have been if Ashino hadn’t gotten injured? Perhaps an Ashino/Nagata challenge or a GOA reunion? The answer is forever lost in the timestream and it might be for the best, as the Bizzaro World booking turned everyone’s expectations upside down and paved the way for one of the best tag matches of the year. ****1/2
