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 2015/1/3

New Year Wars 2015

(2015/1/3)

1.       Yohei Nakajima, Naoya Nomura, Yuma Aoyagi vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ultimo Dragon

Fun opener with a peculiar underdog trio led by jobber Nakajima battling against the super experienced trio, they stood no chance and the story went exactly that way.

**3/4

2.       Soma Takao vs. Atsushi Aoki

Killer little match, rough and heavy, Aoki was relentless with attacking Takao’s back and it paid off. There was that one totally fabulous sequence with Aoki shoving Takao into the guardrails repeatedly, smashing shit. Also, the finish was excellent.

***1/2

3.       GAORA TV Championship: Ryuji Hijikata vs. KENSO ©

This was actually passable until the unnecessary ref bump.

bad

4.       Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori, SUSHI vs. Akebono, Shigehiro Irie, Shuji Ishikawa

So cool to see my man Shuji in All Japan, man I wish it could happen more regularly. Anyway, fuck SUSHI, there was too much of him in the match and he brought it down, because that’s what he does best. Fuck SUSHI. Sure, he was the obvious fallman, but still – FUCK HIM.

***1/4

5.       Shingo Takagi & Zeus vs. Suwama & Hikaru Sato

The fallman is obvious here but it didn’t prevent the match from being really good. That’s because they worked smart and didn’t get overambitious. It was cool to see Shingo in All Japan, just like Shuji Ishikawa earlier, hopefully they come back.

***3/4

6.       All Asia Tag Team Championship: Mitsuya Nagai & Takeshi Minamino vs. Kento Miyahara & Kotaro Suzuki ©

This was really awesome until KENSO decided to stick his beak in, and it was all downhill from there.

bad

7.       AJPW Triple Crown Championship: Go Shiozaki vs. Joe Doering ©

Unfortunately, this didn’t live up to the massive hype, as much as it really pains me to say. Good title match, but nowhere near the MOTYC level or something. Also the atmosphere was falsely advertised as “red hot Korakuen”. The pacing was kind of off and some moves/transitions were too botchy and weird, dunno how it got overlooked by the smarks, lol. Go did some things that were awkward and had me scratching my head a lot. Their September slugfest was much, much better. But like I said, good match though, and even though I was disappointed because I expected a bonafide classic, I’m still very happy for Go and have big hopes for his reign. However, All Japan is going produce at least 20 matches in 2015 better than this one, you can put that in the bank.

***1/2

All Japan 2015/1/2

New Year Wars 2015

(2015/1/2)

1.       Yuma Aoyagi vs. Naoya Nomura

Good rookie match with Nomura finally being on the other side of the punishment fence as he was in clear advantage experience wise, but once again Aoyagi displayed his tremendous endurance and his surviving spirit, the kid’s special, you can tell already.

***1/4

3.       Masanobu Fuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Ryuji Hijikata

Solid match with a hot finishing run, overall it could’ve been really good with less focus on Fuchi and his old man semi-comedy.

**3/4

4.       Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao vs. Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato

Solid little prelude to Ishii/Aoki Jr. title match, although they didn’t do much here, but it was still decent.

**1/2

5.       Zeus, Ultimo Dragon, SUSHI vs. Akebono, Yutaka Yoshie, Shigehiro Irie

Zeus rules! /review.

**3/4

6.       16-MAN NEW YEAR BATTLE ROYAL: Akebono vs. Atsushi Aoki vs. Hikaru Sato vs. Kotaro Suzuki vs. Masanobu Fuchi vs. Naoya Nomura vs. Ryuji Hijikata vs. Shigehiro Irie vs. Soma Takao vs. SUSHI vs. Takeshi Minamino vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Yohei Nakajima vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yuma Aoyagi vs. Zeus

Harmless ~FUN~!

N/A

7.       Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara vs. Joe Doering & Suwama

Not their best effort, and not close to their RWTL sprint from a month earlier. This was kind of too mechanic and Korakuen recognized it, some parts felt so colorless. There were still good parts, though, so it’s still a good tag match, Miyahara displayed his tremendous potential once again, dude can go against anyone.

***1/4

8.       AJPW World Tag Team Championship: KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Burning Wild (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) ©

These two duos had a damn good match in July and an amazing brawl at RWTL, but this one was the weakest of the trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good tag team match, but I expected more, instead all we got was basics, they didn’t try to do too much.

***

Real World Tag League 2014 - Final Day

Real World Tag League 2014

(2014/12/6)

1.       Naoya Nomura vs. Takeshi Minamino

Another very strong Nomura rookie match, maybe even the best thus far. This kid is just insanely talented, hopefully it works out for him. Minamino was a damn good aggressor here too, that Elvis loving bastard is growing on me lately.

***1/2

2.       RWTL 2014: KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato

Aoki and Sato want to get methodical but it’s a big NO NO in the Dark Kingdom land, the heel duo makes sure the match turns into surly brawling because that’s where they thrive. Very nice clash of styles with a satisfying finish, well done match overall.

***3/4

3.       RWTL 2014: Kengo Mashimo & Tank Nagai vs. Big Guns (Zeus & The Bodyguard)

Delightful balls-to-walls tag full of nonstop asskicking and powerhouse bomb throwing, great stuff, all four guys worked hard, I need a rematch soon.

****

4.       RWTL 2014: Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara vs. Joe Doering & Suwama

Manly slugfest with all four dudes shining, but man oh man, Kento Miyahara is something else, this guy has the godgiven natural talent of creating high tension and HATE out of nothing and with anyone, he is the Tenryu of young generation, here he had killer sessions with both Joe and Suwama. Such a great fast paced sprint, Go pinned Joe in a great climax to earn himself one more shot at the Triple Crown.

****1/4

5.       RWTL 2014: Burning Wild (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) vs. Akebono & Yutaka Yoshie

This show is on the fucking roll, here we have ANOTHER great tag team match. Akebono and Yoshie are not particularly attractive to watch, but damn, they work around their physical limitations extremely well, they’re awesome within their comfort zone. Akiyama and Omori are giving their manliest efforts to bring the behemoths down, the story write itself, great match.

****

7.       Masanobu Fuchi & Atsushi Onita vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Ultimo Dragon

Boring trip down the memory lane, total waste of time.

bad

8.       Real World Tag League 2014 – FINALE & AJPW World Tag Team Championship (vacant): Burning Wild (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) vs. Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara

*****