Patrik Watches: All Japan from February 12 2016

AJPW
Excite Series
February 12 2016

Jr. Battle of Glory: Soma Takao vs SUSHI
Our first match in AJPW's yearly junior tournament features AJPW stalwart SUSHI taking on DDT's Soma Takao. AJPW's personal vlogger (Sushi hosts a talkshow on their youtube, a sort of recap show. I'm also going to just write his name regularly instead of the standard all caps going from here because of laziness.) vs the original all red everything. The match starts off slow but quickly ups the pacing. Takao takes control fairly early on and Sushi has to fight back from underneath. Takao displays some bullyish tendencies I have not seen out of him before and plays the defacto heel against AJPW's lovable underdog, working over his back with kicks and powerslams before going for a half crab halfway through the match. Sushi eventually manages to fight back and we get a sequence were he gets to prove that behind that comedy gimmick and goofball look hides a very solid workhorse wrestler. We then go into a very nice a crisp finishing stretch which the crowd gets nice and loud for before Takao steals the win with a rollup. Very entertaining match and the perfect opener for the show in my opinion.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

A quick note before we move on. For those who only watch New Japan or Dragon Gate this type of Junior style is probably a bit odd. All Japan's junior division relies much more on matwork, grappling and strikes than on high flying and spotfests, making the high flying spots that do happen more special. That doesn't mean that the matches aren't high tempo, but don't expect every junior match to contain a 450 or a Sasuke special.

Jr. Battle of Glory: Kazuki Hashimoto vs Ryuji Hijikata
Next up is BJW up and comer Kazuki Hashimoto (not related to the king of destruction, but teams with the legit son of Shinya, Daichi Hashimoto) vs AJPW veteran, now freelancer Ryuji Hijikata. Again this match starts slowly and the two go to the ground pretty quickly trying to outwrestle each other. But this match isn't any less heated since it works the veteran vs cocky upstart formula. Kazuki disrespects Hijikata during a rope break, slapping him in the face a couple of times only to get a straight shot to the face in return from the veteran. Getting the anger as well as the crowd going. They then spend the rest of the match trying to force the other to submit whilst throwing in stiff strikes and generally hating each other in between the holds. Hijikata takes aim at Kazuki's right knee and that becomes his main target for the rest of the match. Kazuki ain't no scrub tho, and after an aggressive rebound and finishing stretch chokes Hijikata out, resulting in a referee stoppage. Something which is a bit rare in the house Baba built.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Kazuki ends up going on quite the run in this tournament, actually being supposed to face Aoki in the finals later on, something which had been built for through the build up to this tournament and on both D-Rize and AJPhoenix shows. But sadly he ended up breaking his arm in his final block match and missed the final. He's as good as guaranteed a title match once healthy tho and I am looking forward to seeing more of him in AJPW.

Jr. Battle of Glory: Atsushi Maruyama vs Hikaru Sato
Atsushi Maruyama is more commonly known as Eagles and Tigers Mask on the independent circuit (not Tiger Mask, Tigers Mask), but is working out of the mask here against Hikaru Sato, today showing up without GillyMan in his corner (never forget).
If you like grappling, this match is for you. This match starts off with a real feeling out process and slick grappling. Logical since Hikaru has a legit MMA background in Pancrase, and Maruyama shows that he can hang as well. Maruyama then hits the so far only high flying move out of the ring with a big tope con hilo straight into the guardrail, ouch! Maruyama hints at hurting his knee on the dive and Hikaru zeroes in on it like a shark tasting blood in the water. And Maruyama sells it like a god. Some of the best selling of a specific body part I have seen in a while. But swerve! It was all a ruse! Maruyama was faking the injury all along and Hikaru pays for it. We then go into what is the snuggest and best third act of a match so far this show. With both men trading some real nifty offense before Hikaru gets the win with the armbar. This was my first time seeing Maruyama but I definitely want to see him back after this showing.
Rating: 3.8 out of 5.

Jr. Battle of Glory: Atsushi Aoki vs Takeshi Minamino
Here comes the worst match on the card….But it is intentionally bad? Minamino promised before the tournament began that he didn't really care about winning it by honest means, but rather that he just wanted to fuck with everyone else involved and was going to cause as much ruckus as possible. And that's just what happened. His opponent is the stoic top junior in the company, Aoki. And Miniamino takes it to him before the bell even rings. This isn't as much a match as it is a prolonged brawl on the outside, with Minamino throwing Aoki into things and Aoki giving chase, with hints of a match sprinkled in. Resulting in a double countout. Making this match hard to rate. It's not a “good match” but it also isn't supposed to be, which means it served its purpose I guess? Never the less this is probably the only match you can skip on this show with good conscience.
Rating: No rating.

Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori & Masanobu Fuchi vs Shigehiro Irie, Shuji Ishikawa & Ultimo Dragon
Team veterans vs Team not so veterans. Match starts with Irie calling out “baldy” pointing at Akiyama, but this causes confusion since Fuchi also is bald, and ref Wada is balding. Ahh, Japanese comedy. Match starts properly with Irie vs Akiyama and their early work makes me realize that I'd be all in on Irie getting a spot in next year's Carnival (he's not in this years) or whatever the Royal Road tournament morphs into this year, or him getting a bigger spot in general. Which he is likely to get since he is the DDT guy they bring in the most and he seems over both with management and fans. We then get Ishikawa trying to murder Omori with kneestrikes and Omori selling them like he's hit in the chest with a baseball bat.

Ishikawa continues with an impressive performing before tagging in Dragon who goes at it with who is arguably the original junior heavyweight, Masanobu Fuchi. It's always impressing seeing Fuchi work since he is old as hell and looks the part. This man has worked for All Japan since it started (1972 for those wondering). Dragon vs Fuchi mainly starts off as more banter than wrestling. All in all this is your typical All Japan six man match, solidly worked and well paced to get the best out of everyone involved. With Fuchi bringing the comedy considering the fact that he is older than father time and the other five men bringing the ring work. And in a match involving Akiyama, Omori, Dragon, Ishikawa and Irie it is hard to put together a bad match. Not a perfect five star match, but a well put together and enjoyable multiman match that the AJPW style lends itself so well to. Ultimo ends up getting the win for his team with a la magistra pin and his awesome theme sends us into the next match.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Jake Lee vs Naoya Nomura
AJPW's main focus this year is the elevate the younger generation of stars, and this match is a prime example of that idea. Jake is the tag team partner of new ace of the company, Kento Miyahara and Nomura is set up to be Jake's rival coming out of the events at the world tag league final (Suwama turned on Kento, and rather than help Jake help Kento, Nomura joined up with Suwama instead). And it is obvious from the start, this match doesn't start out slow but rather with a brawl, with both men throwing kicks and punches and trying to beat each other up. Nomura even getting the cheap start before the bell rings to set up who to boo and who the cheer. And both men are already over with the crowd, which is very good. Nomura slows things down and starts working over Jake. Jake manages to fight back and sends Nomura to the ground with a hard knee, proving that Nomura ain't shit. You can clearly see what is to be the fire and hatred that is so typical of the old school AJPW rivalries starting to burn in these two and the commentary sells it as such as well. And I am looking forward to these two guys continuing to develop that rivalry going forward. These guys only being in their early 20s tells me this can be quite the ride. Jake wins with a killer backdrop after a hot finishing stretch.
Rating: 3.9 out of 5. Highly recommended.

Gaora TV title match: Yohei Nakajima (c) vs Yuma Aoyagi
Another match in the push the younger generation movement. This one pits Akiyama's personal disciple Aoyagi vs the Gaora TV champion Nakajima. This one is hot out of the gate with high pace offense and we go outside of the ring pretty early on. Aoyagi is a house of fire in this one, hitting Nakajima with everything he has it seems. And Nakajima responds by playing the wily veteran, countering the hungry young contenders offense to get out ahead. Nakajima wins a very entertaining match through murder by kicks to the head. Post match Sushi comes out and lays down the challenge for the title he never lost, being forced to vacate the belt in the summer due to a orbital bone injury which led to Nakajima winning the belt. So he is the next logical challenger.
Rating: 3.9 out of 5. Highly recommended.

Triple Crown decision match: Kento Miyahara vs Zeus
Main event time! Before we get to the match itself, time for some backstory. Suwama beat Akiyama for the Triple Crown on the January 2 Korakuen show, only to snap his achilles tendon a week later. Kento and Zeua had been the two top forerunners to become his first challenger and a match was made between the two to crown a new champion following Suwama's injury. Far from the ideal scenario since I am pretty certain that the original plan was for Kento to win the belt at the Sumo Hall show in November, but faith forced All Japan's hand and like with all other backlashes they have felt, they dust themselves off and try to make the best of it. As a result this match has a pretty big changing of the guard feel to it, with Zeus and Kento being the two top young stars in the company, Zeus is currently enjoying a run with the world tag team titles as a result. And Kento is clearly placed in the spot as the new ace of the company, with reason.

Onto the match itself. They start off slow, with an extended feeling out process, which maybe isn't everyone's favorite thing in wrestling, but it makes sense with this being the first big singles match between the two, they don't have a reason yet to just go clubbing from the start, but I am sure we'll get that in the future. Eventually both these young studs tire of playing it safe and start going at each other in earnest, which they do so well. Both these guys are unique specimens, Zeus being a legit ripped muscle monster with surprising agility, something rare in Japan, where heavyweights usually are more stocky. And Kento has this mix of Tenryu and Mutoh to him, with the way he looks, moves and his presence, you can see why Akiyama has Kento pinned as his top star. Fairly quickly we end up outside of the ring and we get a nice physical brawl to help rile up the already active crowd some more. Kento starts working over Zeus inside the ring, but pays for it when going to the top, when Zeus lariats him out of the ring, stepping up the physicality of the match some more. This is the point were Zeus starts working the more clear cut heel, making the crowd side more with Miyahara, which is the desired effect so well done to them. Zeus also ramps up his aggressiveness in his offense, looking very much like a big, muclebound bully. It was also during this segment that I realized how much of Zeus' moveset which he has lifted from 90s WCW, Stinger Splash, Chokeslam with The Giant/Big Show taun, Arn Anderson inspired spinebuster, Scoropion Deathlock. What a legend he is.

Kento eventually starts fighting back to the delight of the crowd, and this is when the match starts hitting third gear, and we get treated to some real beautiful offense, a highight being Zeus diving out of the ring onto Kento (JESUS!). Kento, who has spent most of the middle of the match taking offense, finally gets to start dishing out in earnest as we head into the finishing stretch. And boy is it great. The crowd is eating up what these two are throwing at each other. These are two hungry, young stars who want to win the top prize in their promotion, and they have no problem knocking the shit out of each other to achieve it. And it is awesome. The finishing stretch is hot as fire and both men fight out of everything the other throws at them, but eventually Kento proves the better man and comes out on top. A new champion is crowned, a new top star has arrived and a new era has begun for All Japan. Awesome.

If I have to pinpoint my critique of this match, is that maybe the slow start was a bit too long. It felt like it took too long to get from the slow start to the fierce end, and maybe I would have trimmed like five minutes off sometime in the start or in the middle to fix that. I'd also maybe have had Kento come up with another finish to use on bigger guys like Zeus. But all in all it was a good well put together and deserving main event. These two proved why they are the top two young stars in the company and worthy to play in the same wheelhouse as Suwama, Akiyama and Omori. And All Japan needs top stars that can carry them forward.
Rating: 3.9. Highly recommended

A couple of final thoughts on this show: This was supposed just to be a regular show for All Japan, but Suwama's injury forced this rather normal tour starter in Korakuen to become a show which much more importance for the company. The focus became on establishing the younger generation, showcasing the young stars and proving that they can deliver when called upon. And I'd say they succeeded. Akiyama and company deserves some kudos for sticking to their gameplan instead of panicking the belt back on Akiyama after the injury, allowing the youngsters to prove that they can deliver. All top three matches on this show had the future generation on display, and the crowd was very receptive towards them. And that is a positive. All Japan now knows that the crowd enjoys watching their youngsters, so now they just have to put in the grind to further establish them, and in a year or two we should start seeing the pay off. Kento especially needs it now that he is the ace. The Suwama match at Sumo Hall can and should still be the gameplan, only with the role of champion switch. Kento needs to prove that he can beat the man who never lost the title to begin with.

People tend to post doom and gloom about AJPW primarily these days online but I really came out of this show with a positive vibe. I highly recommend the show since there was only one bad match, and it was intentional to begin with. This is going to be an exciting year for to follow All Japan, as they look to build for the future, seemingly move more of their main business to the Osaka region (smart move in my opinion considering how over saturated the Tokyo region is) and try to draw a decent house at Sumo Hall in November. And I'll keep documenting this journey right here.

Until next time!

Patrik watches: Some All Japan Houseshow

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!

All Japan 08/29

Summer Explosion 2015

(2015/08/29)

All Japan 08/16

Summer Explosion 2015

(2015/08/16)

Chismo Pick: Best of 2014

I just realized I never posted the list of my favorite matches of 2014, so here's my Top 15. Now, why 15? Why not 10? Or 20? Fuck me if I know. 16 is my fave number but I can't go with that. So I'm going with the closest thing. Then why not 17? Oh well... It needed to be more than 10, though, because 10 matches is way too few considering the fact there are thousands of televised pro-graps matches every year. Ergo:

All Japan 4/5 (Carnival Time!)

Champion Carnival 2015

(2015/4/5)

All Japan 3/27

Dream Power Series 2015

(2015/3/27)

All Japan 3/14

Dream Power Series 2015

(2015/3/14)

All Japan 2/20: Aoki vs. Kotaro

Excite Series 2015

(2015/2/20)

1.       Naoya Nomura vs. Shigehiro Irie

***1/4

2.       Yuma Aoyagi vs. Masanobu Fuchi

bad

3.       Takeshi Minamino, Hikaru Sato, Keisuke Ishii, SUSHI vs. Ultimo Dragon, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Soma Takao, Yohei Nakajima

**

4.       KENSO, Akebono, Yutaka Yoshie vs. Go Shiozaki, Kento Miyahara, Zeus

**1/2

5.       AJPW World Tag Team Championship: Suwama & Joe Doering vs. Wild Burning (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) ©

Manly match for sure, but needed more color for greatness, there were middle parts that were just… there. Too by-the-numbers, I guess, something like that. That FIP session on Omori should’ve been longer. Not to mention very weak execution at times. Good match, though, all the pairings were fine enough, especially Suwama/Akiyama and the awesome climax with Omori and Doering. I loved Doering here with all the headsweeping Hansen lariats. Pure force of nature he is, he’ll also piledrive you into oblivion. But there is one problem – sure, he and Suwama are a good, compelling duo, but they’re struggling to find a formula that leads to excellent matches, unlike Akiyama & Omori and Go & Miyahara who make good shit out of thin air.

***3/4

6.       Jr. Battle of Glory 2015 – FINAL: Atsushi Aoki vs. Kotaro Suzuki

AA is probably my favorite Junior in the world in the past two years of so. He works a sluggish heavyweight style and is a relentless dick. Here, after a couple of stand-offish minutes, he targets Kotaro’s arm and works over it viciously, using some very innovative and dangerous looking moves. Great work by Aoki and Kotaro sold it perfectly, there was struggle for every move and Kotaro had to dig down very deep in order to survive, and this is where all the Misawa trainings came into play as Kotaro’s elbows proved to be the key, seriously, that finish was fucking fabulous. This was a rough and punishing Junior match, and with Aoki in charge (plus Hikaru Sato lurking somewhere) All Japan Jr. Division has profiled itself as unique in Japan, nurturing slow paced, human chessgame and highly punishing style.

****1/2

All Japan 2/7: Zeus vs. Go

Excite Series 2015

(2015/2/7)

2.       The Bodyguard & Shigehiro Irie vs. Kento Miyahara & Yohei Nakajima

Average tag, should’ve been much better. The fallman was way too obvious, but the problem is they didn’t manage to disguise that. Miyahara/Irie needs to happen, btw.

**3/4

4.       Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori, Ultimo Dragon vs. Suwama, Hikaru Sato, Naoya Nomura

Good 6-man tag with everyone playing their roles well. This was another match with the obvious fallman, but with Suwama and Sato on his side you get the feeling that maybe Omori or UD might get clipped, and they worked with that very nicely. Apparently Nomura wants to join Evolution and I’d really like that, because Suwama works great with rookies (remember Takumi Soya?) and Nomura is clearly talented. However, Hikaru Sato was not pleased with his effort and he beat the shit out of him backstage, man oh man, that was some tough love (?) right there. Felt kind of uncomfortable too, hehe. Not only poor Nomura got his ass kicked, head smacked and bones stretched during the match (Akiyama is evil), but he also had to suffer a beating from a guy two heads shorter than him, lol.

***1/2

5.       Jr. Battle of Glory 2015 – Block B: Kotaro Suzuki vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

You know what you get with these two together - some great moments and exciting chain sequences that make for a great match, but also a stupid moment or two that bring the match down from the “great” territory. Overall though, very nice and enjoyable match with an exciting closing stretch and some impressive struggle for moves, especially for brainbusters.

***1/2

6.       Jr. Battle of Glory 2015 – Block A: Keisuke Ishii vs. Atsushi Aoki

Excellent slugfest, Aoki was a major shitcunt here, he ambushed and sucker-punched Ishii before the bell and mauled him during the opening stages. He did a number on his arm and dropped him on the head few times. It was a classic story that wrote itself after that, Ishii’s comebacks and hope spots were great, Aoki continued being a DICK and the climax was excellent, especially with Aoki applying the sickest modified cross armbreaker ever, where he managed to lock both of Ishii’s arms. Sick match, loved every second of it.

****1/4

7.       AJPW Triple Crown Championship: Zeus vs. Go Shiozaki ©

The Goldberg and Scott Steiner fan Zeus was one of my favorite discoveries of 2014 and here he is, in the biggest match of his career and I’m pretty fucking pumped for it. Both dudes are careful at the start and they are feeling each other out with some hard chops and shoulderblocks. Zeus wins the first battle and outpowers Go. Go is bumping hard and making his best efforts to make the challenger look like a total beast. Zeus is awesome in controlling this opening phase. Go makes a brief comeback but loses the mini-chop battle. Zeus applies a nasty chinlock and it looks awesome. Go is totally working from behind right now, he loses every chop battle and Zeus is quickly destroying his health points. Go is desperately trying to reverse the course of the match but Zeus is just too damn tough. Eventually Go manages to buy some time by finally bringing down the beast via superkicks, chops, stiff spinning karate chop and nasty headdrop. However, Go’s control sessions doesn’t last for long as Zeus is able to regain the momentum once again. He even does a plancha. Great chokeslam too. Pure display of power by the challenger. But Go keeps insisting on chop exchanges and lariats, which pays off eventually and he brings some balance to the game, Zeus falls for his shtick and it’s the beginning of his fall. We get another chop battle, the long one, that Go wins and caps off with a vicious lariat and great plancha. We’re in the finishing stretch now, they’re out of bullets and it’s time for throwing bombs. We get ANOTHER rough chop tussle, Zeus is about to lose it again so he throws a gnarly punch out of despair. That was an awesome little character moment right there. However, Go fires back with a spinning chop and from that point onwards we get one of those typical All Japan climaxes where it’s obvious that a Player 1 is done, it’s just a matter of which Player 2 move is going to be fatal. Here it was a moonsault.

Fantastic Triple Crown match with great structure and layout, Go was great in working from beneath all the time and making Zeus look monstrous. Zeus totally delivered in his career showcase match and I hope this solidified him as the future main eventer.

****1/2

Dead Baba Draws Better Than Current All Japan

Giant Baba 17^th Death Anniversary

(2015/1/31)

1.       Yuma Aoyagi vs. Yohei Nakajima

Neat little opener, the crowd totally bought into Aoyagi winning during that one roll-up since Nakajima is a total jobber. Perfect opening match.

***1/4

2.       Naoya Nomura vs. SUSHI

Oh look, a SUSHI match where SUSHI didn’t suck a bag of dicks! Good effort from both.

***

3.       KENSO vs. Masao Inoue

A KENSO match mixed with an Inoue match.

**

4.       Jinsei Shinzaki & TARU vs. Taiyo Kea & Yuto Aijima

It was nice to see Kea back. Aaaand, that’s pretty much it. Painfully average and pointless match.

**

5.       Genichiro Tenryu, Akebono, Ultimo Dragon vs. Evolution (Suwama, Atsushi Aoki, Hikaru Sato)

The greatest wrestler of all time is fucking 65 years old (or young) and can barely walk properly, but his right hand still serves him well and Suwama’s mouth, nose and throat can testify to that.

***1/4

6.       Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori, Masanobu Fuchi vs. Xceed (Go Shiozaki, Kento Miyahara, Kotaro Suzuki)

Good main event with some really nifty moments, such as Akiyama/Kotaro closing, it would’ve been great with less Fuchi and his old man selling shtick. I did like him getting his ass kicked by Go, though, you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Go didn’t care about Fuchi’s age, he treated him like any other punchbag out there.

***1/2