All Japan 08/16

Summer Explosion 2015

(2015/08/16)

1.       Hikaru Sato & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Masanobu Fuchi & Naoya Nomura

You know what, I don’t need to see Fuchi as a hot tag in the middle of 2015 and 30 years younger shooter Sato selling hard for him. Other than that, the match was fine for what it was.

**1/2

2.       KENSO & Yutaka Yoshie vs. The Bodyguard & Shigehiro Irie

Too much KENSO, not enough Bodyguard. Also it needed to be a bit shorter. But generally, this was a decent lowcard tag.

**3/4

3.       GAORA TV Championship (vacant): Billy Ken Kid vs. Yohei Nakajima

Pretty damn good match, with BKK playing the role of a veteran trying to capture a singles championship perhaps for the last time ever, against the guy fighting for his own very first strap ever. The big majority of this was good, with some things being great, particularly the finish and just the overall strong sense of struggle. My man Yohei finally overcoming the odds was a legit feelgood moment, fuuuck yes!

***1/2

4.       Taiyo Kea & Jake Lee vs. Suwama & Atsushi Aoki

So good to see Kea back in All Japan, fuck Wrestle-1. Very good match, borderline great even. Not your typical rookie punishment orgy, because Jake Lee towered over Aoki so much and he went over him twice in their match-ups here, which added a nice little subplot that instantly made this match fresh. I think Aoki is totally ready to become full time heavyweight. But that’s why Jake Lee couldn’t do anything meaningful against Suwama, as he got his ass kicked properly, Suwama was a total dick to him via nasty stomps, lariats, slams, etc. Lee has such a promising future. This match was so sweet.

***3/4

5.       CAPTAIN’S FALL: Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori, Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Xceed (Go Shiozaki, Kento Miyahara, Kotaro Suzuki)

Aside from Kotaro surviving three piledrivers in two minutes, this was mostly great. Thirty minutes long, but it flew by easily. Constant tag-ins and pin breaks made for intense and quick dynamics. To no one’s surprise, Akiyama was the man of the match. He lost patience and turned things into ringside brawling on multiple occasions. DDTs on concrete, shoving people into chairs and guardrails, chairshots, you name it. However, the best moment of the match comes from the hands of Kanemaru, as he sacrificed himself by applying a figure four leglock on Miyahara outside the ring to get both counted out, so Shiozaki would have to work a handicap match against Akiyama and Omori. Great booking right there, it showcased the wrestlers as true sports athletes who think of each other in team sports. This match was awesome.

****

6.       Triple Crown Championship: Zeus vs. Akebono ©

Zeus is strong, jack and determined. He tried here, he tried very hard, god knows he did. He’s one of maybe two guys in All Japan able to lift Bono. So, all he has to do is be patient and wait for opportunity. But Bono is just an unstoppable behemoth, so confident and tough he uses fucking SLAPS to turn things around in his favor. Not as great as Miyahara defense, but close enough. Groovy shit.

****