All Japan 2014/12/14

Kyohei Wada Produce

(2014/12/14)

1.      Yuma Aoyagi Debut Match: Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kento Miyahara

What an awesome debut match, probably the best one I’ve ever seen unless I’m missing something embarrassingly obvious. Miyahara was such a proper and surly aggressor towards Aoyagi who took the beating like a true pro, but he also gave him a lot, totally did not expect that. Obviously the kid is immensely talented and it showed in his debut already, and of course Korakuen recognized it and gave him good time. Damn good match with a great story.

***3/4

2.      Hikaru Sato vs. Yohei Nakajima

Tight little match that built and built until the satisfying finale, poor Yohei was doing everything in his power to fight off the savvy shooter, it looked like a mongoose vs. snake fight, awesome shit. The defensive portions of the match were shooty, loved it. Yohei removing the mask half a year ago and abandoning the Menso~re Oyaji persona did wonders for him, he’s a great lowcard underdog now, and Hikaru Sato is continuously one of the most underappreciated wrestlers on the planet. I knew this would rock, and it did.

****

3.      Osamu Nishimura, Ryuji Hijikata, Naoya Nomura vs. Tamon Honda, Masao Inoue, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

Kikuchi still looks good and can go. And someone book Nishimura in a singles match please.

**

4.      Mascara vs. Mascara: Masked Burning No. 2 & Ultimo Dragon vs. Mr. Christmas & SUSHI

Decent semi-comedy match.

**1/2

5.      GAORA TV Championship: KENSO vs. Kotaro Suzuki ©

Great match with KENSO’s nose being busted open, it added to his character here, the brawling portions of the match were rough and awesome. This was your classic big guy vs. small guy structure done right, the selling was excellent and the finishing run was well done. After the match Ryuji Hijikata came out to challenge the new champion KENSO and I have no idea why, he just lost the title match two weeks ago, ffs.

****1/4

6.      AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Masanobu Fuchi vs. Atsushi Aoki ©

Smart match worked around Fuchi’s athletic limitations, simple and clever contest with lots of pure struggle, Aoki did a fine job in adjusting to Fuchi’s pacing.

***1/4

7.      Kyohei Wada 40^th Anniversary Match: Akebono & Takao Omori vs. Suwama & Go Shiozaki

Really fun match built around the intriguing Suwama & Shiozaki one night only partnership, and that was the story of the match, there were awesome interactions and tension between the two. Omori was great here with all the punches, uppercuts and big boots, Akebono was his normal self (weight and all that jazz), and together they made for a good foe duo to fight against the Dream Team. Quality entertainment.

***3/4

All Japan 10/25: FUCHI~!

Raising an Army Memorial Series 2014

(2014/10/25)

1.       Naoya Nomura vs. Yohei Nakajima

Both guys are on a losing streak, so this is interesting. Nomura has the significant size advantage but is also a goofy rookie, so this is a perfect opportunity for Nakajima to finally kick some ass and gain some confidence. Very good match, simple and effective with a properly built and executed legwork that led to the finish.

***1/2

3.       Ultimo Dragon & Hikaru Sato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SUSHI

Good Junior Scramble tag, Hikaru was his usual self (awesome), Kanemaru and Ultimo provided some lucha and quasi-lucha flash, and SUSHI was not useless for one, he was a good face-in-peril.

***1/4

4.       KENSO vs. Zeus

Decent mix of power clash and brawling between two big guys… but only until the very shitty ending.

bad

5.       Yutaka Yoshie & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Suwama & Atsushi Aoki

This was off to a good start, but then things got too ordinary which resulted in a decent match but nothing more. Hijikata is growing on me lately, he stepped up and the newfounded intensity suits him well.

**3/4

6.       Go Shiozaki & Takao Omori vs. Joe Doering & Akebono

Good Go/Joe Triple Crown prelude tag but it should’ve been better, it was too much by-the-numbers and there was a lack of heat at places, nothing like their marvelous singles match from September, I hope they saved the awesome shit for the title match.

***

7.       All Asia Tag Team Championship: Jun Akiyama & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Kento Miyahara & Kotaro Suzuki ©

This was all about Fuchi, hell, even the ultra heated Akiyama/Miyahara feud took the backseat to the 60 year old veteran working his probable last title match ever. If this was his swan song, then he went out in a style. The match would’ve been even better if they cut off 7-8 minutes but I won’t complain because like I said, this was all about Fuchi, he got to do his “grandpa” thing and he did it very well.

***3/4

Fuck me, I just realized Nishimura/Inoue is missing from this show, a potential MOTN.

AJPW Is Very Underrated, Everyone Should Watch It

Summer Action Series 2014

(2014/7/27)

1.      SUSHI vs. Menso~re Oyaji

Damn fine 4 minute match, and I was expecting crap, tbf. Well, my bad, I should’ve known better after witnessing Oyaji’s stellar performance against Kotaro Suzuki. This match had a story that was an awesome and logical continuation for Oyaji – he realized working as a masked goof won’t take him anywhere, so he decided to put his shit together and removed the mask, to identify himself as Yohei Nakajima and join Kotaro in Xceed. I’m excited.

***

2.      Takao Omori, Masanobu Fuchi, Ultimo Dragon vs. Dory Funk Jr., Osamu Nishimura, Yutaka Yoshie

Top contender for the most random 6-man tag ever? I think yes, mos def. Unfortunately, I had to tune off five minutes into the match, because watching the 70 year old Dory Jr. in the ring made for a highly uncomfortable feeling. Sorry, All Japan, I love you ‘till death, but what you did here is wrong on so many levels.

N/A

3.      KENSO & Kengo Mashimo vs. Zeus & Hideki Suzuki

Everyone was good in this cool little sprint full of dynamic action. KENSO’s s hard slaps never fail to amuse me, Zeus does his charming SCOTT STEINER routine, and I dig it, and then there are Kengo and Hideki, whose potential 1-on-1 match would be smashing as fuck, their chemistry seems to be mouthwatering.

***1/4

4.      Kento Miyahara & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Oh, this gonna be good! *** 10 minutes later… *** Told ya! All Japan’s got something special in Miyahara, they better not blow it. The finish of the match fucking rocked my world.

***3/4

5.      All Asia Tag Team Championship: Mitsuya Nagai & Takeshi Minamino vs. Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii ©

The Team Drift blokes from DDT are one grandiose addition to All Japan’s roster this year. I would not say they are the saving grace, because they’re not since there are many other guys killing it in the promotion, but still, they stood out many times, all those tags and 6-man tags brought the goods in cartloads. This one was no different as the odds were stacked against them big time, not only they had to fight dirty brawling heels Nagai and “Elvis” Minamino, they also had to survive Dark Kingdom’s many vultures from the ringside. Damn fine match with awesome heat.

***3/4

6.      AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Hikaru Sato vs. Atsushi Aoki ©

A match entirely based of armwork, and it made for such an effective storytelling, because that was the major tool of the build for the match. Tons of strong and focused shooty armwork from both guys, which was sold good enough, it required patience, but that’s why the payoff was absolutely tremendous. Hikaru Sato is pure gold and he should be the next in the line for this belt.

***3/4

7.      AJPW Triple Crown Championship: Joe Doering vs. Suwama ©

Tag team partners collide for the legendary Triple Crown, cool power moves, lariats, suplexes and stuff… but it wasn’t heated enough. While Suwama was one bossy motherfucker once again, I got an impression that Doering didn’t quite take his chance to elevate himself properly here, he still struggles to provide emotions. Good match, but needed to be better. I’m not writing off Doering, though, not yet, I know better than that. Hopefully he manages to pull through, it’s now or never.

***

Another fun effort from All Japan, and with a better main event, it’d be an essential show.

A Fantastic All Japan Event

Summer Action Series 2014

(2014/7/12)

1.      SUSHI & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Big Guns (Zeus & The Bodyguard)

Good match, quite a surprise. Maybe it was SUSHI getting thrown around (hate that fuck), I dunno, but I liked this, Hijikata was rock solid, and Big Guns are a nice duo of muscleheads, bringing the highly Americanized powerhouse style (think Steiner and Goldberg) with them. Nice match with good pacing and everyone played off each other very well.

***1/4

2.      Osamu Nishimura vs. Masanobu Fuchi

Nish is old and Fuchi is 20 years older than him, yet I’m not even slightly surprised they had a borderline great match here. Simplicity is the key to brilliance. Why can’t today’s young wrestlers be like Nish and Fuchi? Why aren’t Nish and Fuchi celebrated all over the world as two undisputed geniuses?

***3/4

3.      Menso~re Oyaji vs. Kotaro Suzuki

Totally mindblowing, I don’t even want to waste too many words on this one, I’ll just say Oyaji overdelivered and deserves an Oscar or two for his impeccable selling here. Different Junior style here, ground-based and punishing instead of being spot heavy.

****1/4

4.      Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Hikaru Sato, Billy Ken Kid vs. Atsushi Aoki, Ultimo Dragon, Super Delfin

By-the-numbers 6-man tag with a swell finish, cool prelude to Sato/Aoki for the Jr. title.

***1/4

5.      Kento Miyahara vs. Suwama

Great match. Watch it, it contains Suwama demolishing Miyahara with heavy smacks, what else do you need? /review. If this happened in the G1, people would lose their shit. /review x2.

****

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

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match like this where I was up and down on it throughout its entire duration, first something awesome happens like Akiyama throwing kitchen sinks at people, then a dull minute or two with Nagai dominating Omori happens, and the match is also long… but then it gets brawly and wild and… REALLY good, and it’s not coming back. Akiyama digging out his inner Tenryu, uh oh!

***3/4

Fantastic show with four good and two great matches.