Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe vs. Yoshitatsu & Kouki Iwasaki
We are live from Shin Kiba 1st RING and underrated GanPro workhorse Iwasaki has decided to pay us a visit. It was a Big Dudes vs. Kickboys kind of match, Iwasaki fitting in seamlessly thanks to his no non-sense approach. Beside the fun guest spot, I was pleasantly surprised by Ayabe clearly making an effort to expand his presence and work the crowd more. If he can figure out how to live and breath the GIANT LIFESTYLE, then this very tall boy is going places. ***
Koji Iwamoto & Black Menso-re vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Keiichi Sato vs. Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori – 3-Way Tag Match
Only a Toryumon alumni could have cooked up this elaborate 3-way architecture. Thank you for your service, Naruki Doi. The recently returned Koji Iwamoto took to the rapid-fire pace like he was trained by Ultimo Dragon himself and seemed to have a blast. A year ago, it felt like Iwamoto had done everything there was to do in the junior division, but 2023’s refreshed lineup offers tantalizing new possibilities. Looking forward to seeing him kick ass in the JBOG. ***
SAKI vs. Sunny
On the one hand, I love a good veteran discipline match. On the other hand, I’m not sure if Sunny was ready to have this match. Or any match. Even if SAKI wisely chose to no-sell everything thrown her way, the awkwardness was palpable whenever Sunny went on offense. The underdog fire is there, but nothing lands with any conviction whatsoever. *3/4
Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO
This was exactly what it needed to be – a Rockers/Powers of Pain tribute where the pretty boys bumped their asses off for the larger opposition. Good vibes all around, Shin Kiba popping in equal measure for the short-lived babyface comebacks and the heels’ double-team carnage. Every day, the Saitos are getting more and more efficient at putting a finish together. That RAYMOND SLAP into Psycho Break sequence was a thing of god damned beauty. ***1/4
El Lindaman & Junjie vs. Hikaru Sato & Andy Wu
There is a Lindaman/Hikaru junior title match on the horizon. We know this because they spent a large portion of this match engaging in foot-stomping shenanigans. The crowd made their interactions an easy watch, but I’m not fully sold on these two as a compelling pairing. Meanwhile, I am extremely sold on Chinese kung fu master Junjie as someone who should be brought back to the Undercard Cinematic Universe. This man stole the show with his spectacular offense and gelled beautifully with both Andy and Sato. ***
Suwama, Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue vs. Hideki Suzuki, Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe
Hideki/Wammer is an intriguing social experiment, but their pseudo-shoot fuckery wrecked the flow of this entire match. That being said, everything leading up to their Will They Won’t They tussle was pure gold. Astronauts absolutely killed it with both Inoue and Dan, pushing a wild pace and forcing the fighting spirit out of your favorite Zen Nihon youngsters. There seems to be a clear agenda to get Ryo Inoue as much ring time as possible with Nomura and Abe. Smart play by the All Japan Booking Society. ***1/4
Yuma Aoyagi & Kento Miyahara vs. Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai
For the Super Generation Army 2023 storyline to work, Yuma Aoyagi’s going to have to get serious. This was the main takeaway from this. Kento had his finger on the pulse and worked the match in aggressive heel mode, not taking any shit from the new upstarts and following up his amazing first encounter with Anzai with more fireworks.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Aoyagi stuck to his usual playful troll antics and it just felt wrong. Wrong energy for a generational war angle and wrong energy for a Triple Crown champion in this situation. In the early 90’s – Jumbo, Fuchi and company were not fucking around. They were literally trying to kill Misawa and his group of pesky youths. Obviously, Aoyagi’s not yet a cranky old man, but he’ll need to find some serious Ace Pride within himself if we want this thing to work.
Now that I’m done scolding Mama Aoyagi’s Babyboy, I will concede that this match became totally bonkers once they got past the tonal inconsistency and dove straight into the workrate. Frenetic action all over the place with everyone one-upping each other to Shin Kiba’s delight. Even if his attitude as champion is not exactly where it should be, Aoyagi’s still on top of his game in terms of pure mechanics and once again delivered the goods with Honda in the last few minutes. ***3/4
