Naruki Doi, Gamma & Masato Yoshino vs Daichi Kakimoto,
Super Shenron & Turboman
Not familiar with any of the second team here, though Google
Image Search brings up Shenron as some anime character, so I guess him and
Turboman are cartoon character inspired. This match is clipped, which is a
shame, as it’s pretty fun, and unsurprisingly moves at a pretty fast pace.
Gamma has this horrible spot where he gets his opponents in the corner, as if
to hit 10 count punches, but instead spits in his hands and rubs it on his
opponent. Lovely. Kakimoto was pretty impressive here, he’s the guy who gets
worked over the most, but he had some lovely strength spots, including stopping
a Doi small package and deadlifting him from the floor to slam him. There are a
few comedy spots that get lost in translation, but I dug a rana by Turboman
that whipped the opponent over with real speed before Yoshino hits him with a
Paige Turner for the win.
Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito vs Shori Asahi & Makoto
Oishi
Asahi and Oishi play heel here, coming to the ring with an
entourage who aren’t afraid to interfere. The first part of this is wrestled
like a classic tag match, with Horiguchi playing face-in-peril after getting
low blowed. He even gets whipped by a valet on the floor. It breaks down as
Saito enters without a tag and essentially becomes a tornado tag. There’s a lot
of action, well-executed, but it feels like a missed opportunity, even if I
accept that’s an affect of the style. Loved the camera work that saw Saito hit
a frogsplash from out of nowhere onto Oishi, looked great. Asahi and Oishi
always seem one step ahead of their opponents, outsmarting them and even
causing friction when Saito is used to break up his own partners pin by being
pushed on top. The end sees Saito rally and hit a dragon suplex on Oisahi, but
Asahi hits the ref with a skateboard and the entourage come in to beat up
Horiguchi and Saito for the DQ
Danshoku Dino vs Akira Tozawa
This is the first time I’ve seen Dino, but I’m fully aware
of his character. Essentially, he’s like Pepe Le Pew, only wanting to molest
wrestlers rather than paint-stained cats. This is a comedy match, with Dino
essentially fondling Tozawa for laughs. It’s odd seeing sexual harassment
played up for comedy, and this is the epitome of the match you don’t want
people walking in on when you’re watching it. Tozawa turns the tables on Dino
by stripping down to some tiny pants and straddling HIS face, in an interesting
twist (and that sentence will do nothing for my Google search stats on
Blogspot). Tozawa even does that “Joey Ryan overpowers his opponent with his
penis” spot 9 years before it became a popular gif. Dino hits a tombstone with
Tozawa’s head stuffed in his pants for two, and hits a piledriver the same way for
three.
Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Onryo vs Don Fujii & Yamato Onodera
Pretty decent tag match here, with a healthy dose of schtick
for good measure. Loved Don Fujii demanding to fight Kuroda early on, then immediately
tagging out to Onodera. There’s a good chunk of crowd brawling, with both Fujii
and Kuroda managing to hit their partners accidentally, and a few choice comedy
bits – Kuroda does his patented “smash opponent legs into the ring post then
elbow the leg” spot, and gets an old lady from the crowd to also hit an elbow
to the leg of Fujii. Meanwhile, while all this is going on, Onryo and Onodera
are having a pretty decent series in the ring. Loved Onryo stopping a three
count by grabbing the ref’s hand as he was about to hit the mat for the third
time. Keeping hold of the hand, he uses it to strike Onodera before downing him
with a crucifix to win.
Kintaro Kanemura & Mammoth Sasaki vs Daisuke Sekimoto
& Magnitude Kishiwada
Kanamura really looks like shit here, all strapped up and
looking beaten down, which makes it kinda great that he’s still able to bust
out ranas and an Asai moonsault (of sorts). Sasaki seems to be having a whale
of a time in the match, grinning from ear to ear. Kanemura gets isolated and
suffers the effects of the opposition bringing chairs into the ring, getting
slammed onto them as well as taking a Death Valley Driver. I was pretty
impressed by Sasaki hitting a Dragon suplex, which looked a lot better than the
sloppy quebrada Kanemura hits. He makes up for it with a bulky top rope senton
on Kishiwada for two. There’s a great power spot by Sekimoto, where Kishiwada
hits a German suplex on Kanemura, from which position Sekimoto wheelbarrows
Kanemura and deadlifts him into another German. It does feel like Kanemura is
just dying out there, and by saving him Sasaki is only stopping him being put
out of his misery. At least, until Kanemura grabs a backslide out of nowhere
for the win. Pretty sloppy in places, but not without it’s charm.
BxB Hulk, CIMA & Matt Sydal vs TAKA Michinoku, MEN’s
Teioh & Dick Togo
Yeah, this was really great, and even Teioh was able to keep
up well. There are some lovely pairings in this that just make you wonder about
a singles match, with the mid-match Sydal/Togo face-off being really fun to
watch. I loved the triple teaming by both teams: Kaientai using Hulk for the
traditional pose and a great sequence where CIMA and Hulk team up for a
double-team Codebreaker on Michinoku, punctuated by Sydal hitting a standing
moonsault whilst stood on TAKA’s back. Togo is probably the standout guy here,
he just seems to put a little extra something on everything he does, and I
thought his high-angle slingshot senton looked excellent. The final few minutes
sees everything break down, and we go through a breathtaking sequence of moves
before Hulk gets picked off by the Miracle Ecstasy Bomb from Teioh and a big
Togo top rope senton for the three. Loved this.
Masaaki Mochizuki & Minoru Tanaka vs Ikuto Hidaka &
Minoru Fujita
Both Hidaka and Tanaka are holding Jr gold here, with Hidaka
being Zero-1 International Jr Heavyweight champ and Tanaka being IWGP Jr
Heavyweight champ. Tanaka was really fun here, and I loved him making a chump
out of Fujita with a series of eye pokes and an over-the-top forward roll just
to hit a low blow. The double-teaming by Mochizuki and Tanaka is really
effective, nothing contrived, just one guy positioning an opponent to allow his
partner to swiftly hit a move. Fujita feels like the weak link of the match: he’s
decent, but some of his kicks are either off target or look realy milky.
Mochizuki kicks the ringpost after Fujita ducks, and this allows Hidaka to go
after the leg, working it over before locking in a figure four. I like the way
they hark back to the injury throughout the match, highlighting it as a real
weak point for Mochizuki. Hidaka and Tanaka work really well together, and
their smooth sequence ends in a great spot where Tanaka has Hidaka locked in an
armbar that Hidaka constantly gets THIS close to breaking before being powered
back into it again. I loved the logic of Fujita going back to the injured leg
of Mochizuki to lock on a Regal Stretch, and Hidaka holding a heel hook in
Tanaka to stop him being able to break it, with Mochizuki instead getting the
ropes. This is paid off at the end too, as this time it’s Tanaka holding Hidaka
back with a return to the armbar, as Mochizuki kicks Fujita’s head off to pick
up the win. Fun main event.
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