I'm
back! It's been a while but what can I say, a busy work schedule and
a killer cold kind of took the wind out of me. But let's get back in
the saddle with something special.
Recently,
All Japan pro wrestling has started putting up matches from their
house shows on their youtube channel. They are single camera and no
commentary, but it is a good way for All Japan to earn some extra
exposure and kudos from the fans. All Japan are a company that are
far from their glory days, drawing nowhere near their old numbers,
having plateaued at landing at just around the 1000 people mark for
their bigger shows, and at around 5 – to six hundred for a regular
road show. Which isn't really that bad if it weren't for the fact
that they are All Japan and used to pull massive crowds way back
when. That couple with a few key roster members leaving in 2015 made
that a rough year for them. And Suwama getting hurt in early 2016
didn't help. But they still put out, in my opinion, some of the best
product on the Japanese scene. And 2015 has forced Akiyama into
starting to push their younger stars, who are all over like rover
with their fans. So while their history and present is a bit grimy,
All Japan's future is in my opinion rather bright.
The
match I'm going to be talking about today is the semi-main event from
their January 10 show, where Jun Akiyama and his new understudy Yuma
Aoyagi take on the team of Jake Lee and Kento Miyahara, collectively
known as NexTream.
The match
This
was a very good match in my opinion. Clocking in at just about 13
minutes in length. Aoyagi was the one taking the majority of the
punishment which was logical considering his place on the card
compared to the new top star Kento, his partner in crime Jake and
company president and legend Akiyama. Kento and Jake have clicked as
a tag team very quickly, and Akiyama is the supreme grumpy dad
wrestler, rivaling or even surpassing the third generation of New
Japan when it comes to grumpiness.
The
match had a little bit of everything, outside of the ring brawling,
stiff strikes, quasi comedy, mat grappling and top rope spots. Focus
of the match was Kento squaring off with Akiyama (this was before
Suwama got injured and Kento was set to chase him for the belt, so
Akiyama being the former champ was supposed to be a stepping stone
for him). And Aoyagi proving that he was on the level of Lee (Lee has
recently moved on from being a pure young boy to a proper upper
midcarder/midcarder, whilst Aoyagi still has to wear young boy gear
and Aoyagi is out to prove himself). Kento Miyahara might be my
favorite wrestler right now, and Akiyama is my favorite veteran
wrestler going today (Kojima being a close second) so seeing Kento
and Akiyama square off is always nice. I dug the finishing stretch
with Kento and Aoyagi even if it was obvious that they were not going
full hog since it was just a touring show. But it wets the appetite
for future encounters down the road on bigger shows.
Rating:
Good. Recommended ( 3.5 shurikens)
Until
next time!
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