Pretty fun opener. Honda is pretty slight, but he gets an
early advantage by locking a cross armbreaker on early, which Nasu sells really
well. Nasu even sells the pain while on offence, while Honda uses it as a focal
point to regain control when Nasu rallies. I really liked Honda being
disorientated following a roll-up, which allowed Nasu to hit a Shining Wizard
for two. There’s a great fight over a second crossarmbreaker, before Nasu gets
a two count following a big punt. A back suplex gets the win for Nasu.
YOSHIYA, Saburo Inematsu, Boso Boy Raito & Bambi vs
Ricky Fuji, Toshima Pacquaio, Jonathon Bader & Miss Mongol
Utterly throwaway intergender 8 man tag, which is JIP. Of
note is Fuji looking totally out of shape and half-arsed, despite an admittedly
good delayed brainbuster on Inematsu. Everything breaks down and Raito hits an
acid drop on Bader for the win.
Daigoro Kashiwa vs Kaji Tomato vs Yuki Sato
This is for Kashiwa’s UWA Middleweight title. Tomato seems
to be working your usual “cheerleader tomato” gimmick. Of the three, Sato looks
to be the best, working a nice comeback flurry after being double-teamed and
looking really crisp on offence. Kashiwa seems to be working a “hard head”
gimmick, hitting lots of headbutts and causing opponents to sell after hitting
him in the bonce. Tomato hits a lovely flip dive to the floor. The end sequence
is a fun flurry of offence, despite Tomato botching a springboard, and the end
was cool: Tomato locking an Octopus stretch on Sato, only for Kashiwa to roll
both men up for the win. I’d like to see more of Sato.
TAKA Michinoku vs MEN's Teioh
Pretty by-the-by match here. I did like the opening part,
with Teioh working over TAKA’s wrist and fingers, and I enjoyed TAKA selling
the work when trying to hold himself up o a headscissors. Teioh does feel a
little off pace, and it’s obvious in places where TAKA is having to wait for
his offence. The end sees both guys trying to get the win with roll-ups, and I dug
the variety of different pinfalls used before TAKA got the three by tying Teioh
up.
Hiro Tonai & Shiori Asashi vs Kengo Mashimo &
Ryuichi Sekine
This is for Mashimo & Sekine’s Strongest-K tag belts.
This kicks off at a really fast pace, breaking down from the start before
Asashi misses a pescado and Sekine nails a cool big-guy suicide dive. Tonai and
Asashi are much smaller than the champions, so it’s a battles of speed vs size.
We clip to things being a bit more organized, with Tonai working over Mashimo’s
arm. Mashimo is soon able to isolate Tonai, and a decent heat section is worked
on him. Loved the close hot tag tease following a nice springboard rana by
Tonai. When the hot tag is made, Asashi looks pretty good, especially driving
Sekine face first to the matt with a diving knee from the top rope. They even
managed to take a spot I hate, the “fighting spirit” strike exchange, and make
it fun, with Mashimo resisting all Asashi’s chops, only to get caught with an
eyepoke. Tonai and Asashi then isolate Mashimo, using their speed to keep on
top of him, and hitting repeated blows to the arm. There’s a really exciting
false finish as Tonai nearly makes him tap with armbars and armbreakers, really
struggling to keep him from the ropes, before Mashimo picks him up with the old
Bob Backlund reversal. The home stretch is great, with Sekine getting a good
few numerous convincing nearfalls with some vicious kicks, before getting
caught in a bodyscissors rollup to give Tonai and Asashi the titles. Not sure how
much was clipped, but everything here was great, and the Mashimo/Sekine team
were excellent.
Daisuke Sekimoto vs Yuji Hino
Battle of two big guys here, and the match has a real feel
of two heavyweight fighters trying to wear each other out. They spill out
early, and have a strike exchange, which Hino wins. Back in the ring, he
cockily starts slapping Sekimoto in the head, an arrogance that backfires as
Sekimoto hits a huge German suplex from out of nowhere. This totally changes
the course of the match, as Hino seems to be knocked for six. He tries chopping
Sekimoto from the mat, but they’ve lost all of their bite and Sekimoto just
shrugs them off. I loved the Boston Crab locked in by Sekimoto, as Hino really
sells his struggle to reach the ropes. Both guys feel like mirror images of
each other, a point proven by Hino hitting his own German suplex from nowhere,
only this one is followed by a mad looking tope. Really great hang time on it.
This considerably weakens Sekimoto, who is no longer quick enough to block or
reverse moves effectively. Both guys get frog splashes for two, again showing
the mirror images theory. It’s ultimately Sekimoto who prevails, nailing Hino
with a bridging delayed German for the win, but it felt like both guys had been
in a real struggle. Really good match.
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