BJW 2014/9/23

Saikyo Tag League 2014

(2014/9/23)

2.      Isamu Oshita & Toshiyuki Sakuta vs. MEN’S Teioh & Tatsuhiko Yoshino

The centerpiece was Oshita/Yoshino and it was awesome. Teioh works so well with young guns.

***1/4

3.      Ryuichi Kawakami & Kota Sekifuda vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Masaya Takahashi

I love it when puro companies get the very most out of obvious tag matches where you’re 100% sure who’s a fallman. And it doesn’t get much better than this, poor tiny Sekifuda against the surly duo of big bad animals, especially Shuji Ishikawa who’s toying with him until the moment he’s not. Korakuen adores good underdog stories, and so do I.

***3/4

4.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Death Block) – BARBED WIRE BOARD STREET FIGHT DEATHMATCH: Heisei Gokudo Combi (Kankuro Hoshino & Masato Inaba) vs. Jaki Numazawa & Masashi Takeda

Wow, this one totally caught me off guard, great fucking match and definitely the best HGC effort ever, by a large margin. This was just a whacky rollercoaster of fun.

****

5.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Strong Block): Shiori Asahi & Shinobu vs. Koji Kanemoto & Kazuki Hashimoto

And here is ANOTHER super fun match. Kanemoto and K-Hash are teaming together after the grueling rivalry and obviously they’re stupendously awesome in kicking asses.

***3/4

6.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Strong Block): Speed of Sounds (Hercules Senga & Tsutomu Oosugi) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani

Great power vs. speed clash, with a strong subplot of Kamitani digging in VERY fucking deep to justify the privilege of teaming with Sekimoto, this was a captivating story.

****

7.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Death Block) – IRON CAGE & LIGHTTUBE DEATHMATCH: Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka)

Such a neat and proper match to cap off this highly entertaining show. The match wasn’t anything particularly new, but the story of Abby getting some of his mojo back after the return was enough for me and Korakuen to care and enjoy. Pretty damn good deathmatch.

***3/4

BJW 2014/8/21, 8/24, 8/31

Daisuke Sekimoto 15^th Anniversary

BJW 2014/8/15

Sooo, I'm ridiculously behind with BJW. Like, 8 months behind. Fuck. And I can't even explain why, tbf, they're basically my favorite fed of all time. I follow the stories and results, but for some reason I always delay the watching, it's always "this weekend", lel. That needs to change. I guess what comes next is catching up in some sort of binge-watching, smh...

And what a bad luck, the first show is from 8/15 where they only aired 4 matches out of 7, they fucking left out Twin Towers vs. K-Hash & Kawakami, fuck life.

Big Summer Festival in Korakuen: Ryuji Ito 15^th Anniversary

(2014/8/15)

1.      Toshiyuki Sakuta & Kota Sekifuda vs. Yuichi Taniguchi & Isamu Oshita

Thankfully the eternal jobber Taniguchi didn’t get much ring time, so this was all about Big Japan kids making names for themselves. Good little match.

***

3.      GENTARO & Shinobu vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & MEN’s Teioh

Poor Shinobu just can’t get away from underdog roles, lel. Good match with killer finish, and overall it was fun to see GENTARO hanging with Daisuke.

***

5.      ETC DEATHMATCH: MASADA & Danny Havoc vs. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka)

What a great deathmatch sprint, this was all action and destruction, American guys worked their asses off here, they really stepped it up against the homeboys. MASADA is such a beast, especially in Japan. This was awesome.

****

7.      300 COUNTER LIGHTTUBES DEATHMATCH - Ryuji Ito 15^th Anniversary: Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Ryuji Ito

Another super fun sprint in front of the amazing Korakuen crowd. Abby and Ito had a bunch of 20+ minute long matches in the past, so it was such a nice surprise seeing them in a short helter-skelter. There wasn’t any particular story behind the match, it is Ito’s debut anniversary match and Abby came back to regular competition just five days earlier, and the match is simply about two old pals/rivals having a deathmatch party in Korakuen. Shit son, it was tons of fun. They were just smashing each other with lighttubes like it’s nothing.

****

Big Japan in Korakuen: Shinobu/Sekimoto in a Stellar Main Event

2014/6/30

1.      The Brahmans (Shu & Kei) vs. Masaya Takahashi & Takayuki Ueki

Harmless, loony fun. Ueki’s character is pure comedy gold sometimes.

**

2.      Speed of Sounds (Tsutomu Oosugi & Hercules Senga) vs. MEN’S Teioh & Atsushi Maruyama

This was way more light-hearted than expected, and not in a particularly good way. What a waste of Maruyama.

**

3.      Ryuichi Kawakami & Masato Inaba vs. Kohei Sato & Hideyoshi Kamitani

Damn! I was really looking forward to see Kohei smack people silly, but the video is no good motherfucker, such a travesty.

N/A

4.      Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block B: Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Manabu Soya

Soya thrives in Big Japan like nowhere else, and I’ve really learned to appreciate him this year. He’s a perfect match for the style, as evidenced here once again. And what about K-HASH, you say? Well, he’s turned into a super reliable wrestler and pretty much the Top 10 WOTY material, immense guy.

***3/4

5.      Ryuji Ito, Jaki Numazawa, Masashi Takeda vs. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka) & Kankuro Hoshino

Super fast deathmatch, seriously, the pace was frantic but coherent. Takeda is the man. Hoshino can be a good deathmatch underdog when he tones down the unnecessary comedy.

***1/4

6.      Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block A: Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shinya Ishikawa

Shuji is a proven badass behemoth and big pain in the ass for entire Big Japan roster. First he dominated the DM Division for a whole year, now he’s trying to do the same with Strong and Tag Divisions, and he’s pretty damn successful so far. Shinya is the Strong Champion, and if anyone stands a chance against the big bad bruiser, it’s him. Great match with a logical and effective layout and strategies.

****

7.      Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block B: Shinobu vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

One of the pillars of puroresu is rigid hierarchy and long character arcs about improving your game and climbing up the totem pole, it usually takes years to achieve it, but when it finally arrives, the payoff is beautiful. WHAT A MATCH!

****1/2