Takao Omori, Takanori Ito & Ryo Inoue vs. Hikaru Sato, Ren Ayabe & Dan Tamura
It is good to be back in my favorite pro-wrestling location: the All Japan undercard. These opening match warriors inaugurated Aore Nagaoka, a promising new mid-sized venue for AJPW in the Niigata prefecture. The 1500 Zen Nihon freaks in attendance immersed themselves in many rich themes of wrestling literature, namely tall people overpowering small people and Takao Omori starting chants for himself. **1/2
Chihiro Hashimoto, Millie McKenzie & Yurika Oka vs. MICHIKO, Aoi & Lena Kross
Joshi offer matches continue to take the Japanese wrasslin’ scene by storm. Is this a passing trend or a sign of growing Gender Equality in wrestling? The answer will be revealed exclusively on the HWL Patreon. Sendai Girls’ Chihiro Hashimoto, who was previously seen throwing Suwama around, once again stole the show and helped the match move past early awkwardness. Let’s bring her back. **1/4
Yoshitatsu vs. Super Sasadango Machine
With the Eruption 6-man title win and this Powerpoint-fueled banger, we may be returning to the 2013-2014 glory days of open collaboration between AJPW and DDT. Hometown hero Sasadango quickly won over the crowd with his informative presentation and then proceeded to extract almost three stars out of WORLD FAMOUS Yoshitatsu. The masked man’s finisher became monstrously over after being introduced in his Powerpoint, convincing me that Microsoft Office should become an integral part of live wrestling. **3/4
Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani © vs. ATM, Black Menso-re & DASH Chisako – AJPW TV 6-Man Tag Team Titles + KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles
The AJPW 6-man belts constitute the greatest prank in the history of wrestling. Even with a fresh new trio holding gold, the matches are contractually obligated to feature Undercard Cinematic Universe royalty. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. There was actually a pretty fun match stacked on top of the usual ATM financial comedy here. DASH might be the most impressive Joshi wrestler to walk the King’s Road since Chihiro and she kicked a large amount of ass. Top-tier chemistry between her and Okatani. ***1/4
Atsushi Onita, Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Jun Saito, Rei Saito & Black Tiger – Current Blast Death Match
There have been better Onita death matches in the last year, but none featured Suwama working in jeans. The denim was as powerful as the explosions and Black Tiger Takaiwa was there to die for your sins. Crowds are still very much into these Onita showcases, even if the novelty is starting to wear off. Some kind of storyline hook would be helpful to keep it going. Or perhaps it’s just time to hand back the All-Asia belts. Lots to think about. **1/2
Ryuki Honda vs. Atsuki Aoyagi
These two hinted at wildly combustible chemistry during the legendary house show banger tour of summer 2022. They delivered on that promise here with a compact little scorcher that made good use of their Power Guy vs. Flyer dynamic. Honda worked with the same explosiveness of his career-defining Royal Road tournament run, basing for Aoyagi like 1995 Psicosis and turning his high spots into GIF-ready gold. Atsuki returned the favor by bumping his ass off for Honda’s chunky lariats and suplexes. Real good shit. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara vs. Hokuto Omori
Not quite on the level of their under-the-radar burner from earlier this year, but close enough. Ironically, the high levels of hatred and non-stop dickish no-selling both helped and hurt this latest meeting of the minds. In terms of pure mechanics, Hokuto was on point, using the pre-bell sneak attack to catapult the match into a fiery back and forth. That being said, he still doesn’t have the aura to convincingly project the Big Dick Energy he was going for here. Kento pleasantly walked the line between Jumbo and Hogan, balancing veteran salt with his signature crowd pandering. To reiterate – the execution is getting increasingly sharp. Hokuto just needs to tweak his character work to believably hang with the king. ***1/2
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Rising HAYATO
Friends, Hiromu has officially entered his late 90’s/early 2000’s Traveling Liger Era and it is a beautiful sight. This man has made the most of the post-COVID interpromotional boom, doing everything from Michinoku Pro guest spots to putting together his own junior crossover event. In this setting, HAYATO was the ideal Hiromu opponent. Like a femboy Great Sasuke trying to make a dent in the lion mark. Takahashi built the match around Shin Nihon superiority and veteran craft, cutting down the local hero until he found the adequate amount of TOUKON to fight back on behalf of smaller wrestling companies. A super effective first-time meeting, the kind that makes you crave an immediate rematch. ***3/4
Yuma Aoyagi © vs. Satoshi Kojima – Triple Crown
The pre-match package wisely framed this as a battle of People’s Champions from different eras. Kojima was the top babyface behind Muto during the Pro Wrestling Love period, a position currently held by Yuma vis a vis Kento in the present timeline. Historical quirkiness aside, the match didn’t add much to their Champ Carnival outing, but it was worked in a way that made you buy a Kojima title win hook, line and sinker. Which made the Aoyagi victory all the more satisfying.
They explored the same themes as that first meeting, going from tiddy-flex warfare to crowd-pleasing mega-near falls in one fell swoop. Even if the match was clearly designed to honor Kojima, Aoyagi more than held his end of the bargain and wrestled like a champ. Dug all the rare Big Match Kojima spots, namely the Cozy Crash Dynamite and his Misawa/Hansen counter lariat/missile kick tribute. If this is the end of Koji’s AJPW run, then the man went out on a high note – putting over a young hope in a hard-fought match. Respect. ****
