The year is 2015! With The Triple Crown and the Junior Heavyweight Title held by Joe Doering and Atsushi Aoki, respectively, Evolution is on top of All Japan! However, the group XCeed is in the game as well; Go Shiozaki will challenge Joe on the second night of the wars, while Kotaro Suzuki and Kento Miyahara hold the All Asia Tag Belts. As the first shows in the new year, there's a lot hanging in the balance for the men of All Japan!
Night 1, January 2nd, 2015
Naoya Nomura vs. Yuma Aoyagi
This was a Young Boy match, and if you've seen one at any point in the past, then you've seen this one. The only really neat thing to mention is that these men would one day be All Asia Tag Champions together. Nomura won with, shockingly, a Boston Crab
*
Kotaro Suzuki (Xceed) and Ryuji Hijikata (not of XCeed) vs. Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Instead of a Yohei Nakajima match, which happened but we apparently skipped, we got this. I've heard of Kotaro Suzuki before, but looking at all the hardware he's had in his career tells an amazing story. Masanobu Fuchi took the entire beating, then his fire up was composed of a single nose hook and the coldest hot tag ever. I don't want to surprise anyone, but Yoshinobu turned the match's pace around for the absolute better, making a great comeback. He and Suzuki clicked very well, and Hijikata wasn't an entire slouch. We had a string of La Magistrals from Suzuki until one actually worked, pinning Fuchi for the three.
*3/4
Atsushi Aoki and Hikaru Sato (Evolution) vs. Keisuke Ishii and Soma Takao
Aoki and Sato are a tag team I feel is underappreciated in a world full of Young Bucks and RATELS. Hikaru is a very good dedicated shoot wrestler, and Aoki has an amazing awareness of both the ring and the crowd. Aoki was hesitant through much of the match to get in and do any work, which must be playing into a story I'm unaware of. Nothing much I can say going in cold, other than the Junior Heavyweight Champ (Atsushi, again) hit a bridging Regal Suplex for the pin on Ishii. This was either a setup or a prelude to the match he and Soma had the next night.
**
When Irie comes in as the lightest man on his team at 250 pounds, you know it's one of the beefiest teams in existence. This was just a stock tag team match, until Akebono began to kill SUSHI. Poor man was probably wishing he was back in Orlando as he was trying hard for the hot tag. And then, after Dragon tried running wild on Akebono with lucha and various kicks, Zeus came in.
The story already has it's end; Kento Miyahara becomes All Japan's Ace, heralded as a hero who is one of the greatest wrestlers outside of New Japan, and Zeus gains chief dominance over the Tag titles alongside the greatest man of all time (but we'll get to him another day). I always knew people liked Zeus, but I never saw anything blowing me away. Now, in two nights, I finally get it. Zeus was fucking amazing in this match, and will be the next night. For now though, he cleaned Shigehiro's house, did what he could against Akebono, and powered up Yutaka Yoshie for a Jackhammer.
I'll repeat that for the visually challenged.
He hurked up the 350 pound, 80% Kobe beef Yoshie, held him there for several seconds, and Jackhammered him.
The man has won me over.
**1/4
New Year Battle Royal(!!!)
If you've seen any battle royal from All Japan or the Tokyo Dome pre-show you've seen this match. It featured everyone who was on the card already, and Akebono won. They played the Star Wars Theme Disco mix, so I was satisfied.
**
Joe Doering and Suwama (Evolution) vs. Go Shiozaki and Kento Miyahara (XCeed)
This match was a very interesting cross-section of Puroresu. We had the big mean gaijin, a traditional stand up throw down tough man, a submission/strike based fighter, and a high flying fast paced bugger. It was a very fun look at what wrestling was, is, and will be. Doering just towers over everyone in the ring, and he moves at scary speed. Shiozaki looked the best of all four, coming off as a strong contender for Doering's title. The two had a great bit of time to themselves, as a preview for Night 2. We saw flashes of the mega star that Kento would be one day, and got a lot of good action between him and Suwama. Whether they knew what they had in the man or not I have no idea. Suwama had enough of the young man, though, and nailed him with a Last Ride Powerbomb for the pin. This was a great match, that made me want to see Go/Joe and Kento/Suwama even more.
***1/4
AJPW World Tag Team Championship [1st Title Defense]
Burning Wild (Takao Omori and Jun Akiyama) (c) vs. KENSO and Mitsuya Nagai (Dark Kingdom)
I actually went back and watched this match a second time after finishing Night 2. Originally i had ripped this match apart and gave it *1/2. After a second watching, I can confirm that this wasn't that bad. The problem most likely was that it came after a great semi-main, and it proved to be underwhelming. Even at their age, Takao and Jun were significantly better than their opponents. Another problem was the Dark Kingdom's tactics. They used typical western heel brawling and cheating, which didn't fly well with the crowd. Takao took the heat forever, before making a slightly hotter comeback than Fuchi earlier. Jun ran wild and quite frankly humbled his opponents. Dark Kingdom got control back briefly, before Omori won with a Sliding Axe Bomber.
**3/4
Night 2, January 3rd, 2015
Yohei Nakajima, Naoya Nomura, and Yuma Aoyagi vs Masanobu Fuchi, Ultimo Dragon, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Ultimo and Yoshinobu were good, and Yoshinobu pinned Yuma to win. Nothing to see here, move along.
*1/4
Atsushi Aoki (Evolution) vs.Soma Takao
Before we continue, I want to take a minute to appreciate how beautiful the All Japan Junior title was
Atsuhi Aoki, I've decided, is a wonderful dick, very much like Bret Hart toward the end of his '97 WWF run. He is very good at keeping the air of both disdain and disinterest through the entire match. Soma Takao was good as well, but this whole match was a showcase for the Junior Champion. Quick, easy match that ended with a backdrop that transitioned into a terrifying Boston Crab that I don't think anyone would want to receive.
**3/4
GAORA TV Championship [1st Title Defense]
KENSO (Dark Kingdom) (c) vs. Ryuji Hijikata
The crowd was really into this match, and both men tried. However, there was still a cap for how good this match could be. KENSO seems to know what he's doing, but with little effort or passion above what's required.There was a lot of crowd fighting, like the Dark Kingdom match the night before, but Hijikata proved to be a better foil for the action. He was able to pull some good action out of the champion, but not enough to save the whole match for me. KENSO kept his title with a Diving Elbow Drop, and I'm already tired of a reign that happened nearly 3 years ago.
**
Akebono, Shigehiro Irie and Shuji Ishikawa vs. Jun Akiyama, SUSHI and Takao Omori
Of all people, SUSHI was the most popular wrestler of the six. Each time he got in the ring or hit something big, the crowd went nuts. Unfortunately, the reactions for everyone else was lesser, even without the comparison. Each team took turns getting the heat on the smallest member of the other, Irie and the before mentioned SUSHI to be clear. Shuji, a man who would one day win my heart and support, came in here and stood up to the members of Burning Wild really well when he tagged in. Akebono eventually lumbered into the ring, stood there and absorbed shots, before pinning SUSHI with, after a long time waiting for no reaction, a Russian Leg Sweep.
**1/2
Hikaru Sato and Suwama (Evolution) vs. Shingo Takagi and Zeus
The lessons learned from this match have barely a thing to do with Sato and Suwama. They were just here to help put Zeus and Shingo in the spotlight. I've always had a passing interest in Dragon Gate before, but after seeing Shingo's performance here on this night, I may have to start thinking about watching the company more seriously. He showed a really impressive arsenal, and a great presence behind it. One of the more memorable moments was when he turned an attempted heel hook by Sato into a Scorpion Deathlock. As good as he looked, though, he was nothing compared to his partner. Zeus came off as good as he did the previous night. Zeus had the crowd in his hands through most of his time in the match, working over Sato with slams and flexes. Suwama got in, tried to clear house, but made the fatal mistake of tagging his Junior partner back in that has been the ruin of many a multiman team. Zeus Jackhammered Sato to get the win.
**3/4
All Asia Tag Team Championship [2nd Title Defense]
Kento Miyahara and Kotaro Suzuki (XCeed) (c) vs. Mitsuya Nagai and Takeshi Minamino (Dark Kingdom)
I can already tell that Dark Kingdom is gonna make the next year of viewing a chore for All Japan. Although here Miyahara and Suzuki were able to match them in the outside brawls, and Suzuki's selling was much more on point than some other people's. Miyahara continues to fight for space in my heart as he beat these two cheating bastards hard whenever he could. He showed an edge and a shift in disposition here compared to the night before that really makes a difference when you're watching for future or current stars in a company. KENSO came out once the match started to break down, wearing his giant leather belt and all, finally shifting the momentum inescapably into Dark Kingdom's corner. It took a crowbar, cold spray, a chair, powder, a belt shot, and a top rope flying knee to finally keep Suzuki down. Normally I am really down on bullshit like this, but Dark Kingdom celebrated like they had one the Tag League for the AJPW World Tag Titles here, so I'm alright with how this went down.
**3/4
Triple Crown Championship [4th Title Defense]
Joe Doering (Evolution) (c) vs. Go Shiozaki (XCeed)
I came into these two shows not expecting much. I knew I wouldn't be wasting my time in general, and that there had to be at least one match worth talking about. I was happy to find more than one of that case, but what I wasn't expecting was to find a match of this caliber. Go and Doering, on this night, put on what might be the best David and Goliath Professional Wrestling match I've ever seen. Doering played a wonderful monster here, taking a lot of hits and giving it back explosively. Go proved to be as good as a lot of people have told me he was, but that I had never seen before, with every strike hitting hard and coming back from every shot with even more fire than when he was struck. I actually don't want to say how the match ends, just so you can enjoy it in full with a complete mystery to it. Here's a link to the whole thing. That one don't work? Watch this one. Watch it twice. Just go now.
****3/4
That was a pretty good few days of wrestling. Some of the tag matches were a little lame duck, but the good outweighed the average on these two nights. It was definitely a good way to start this series of mine. But, we have to leave All Japan for now. For now, we have to skip ahead one more day, and you know what that means.
January 4th.
Time for the Motherfucking Dome.
Thanks for reading! I'm glad that I can turn my passion for wrestling into something that so many people enjoy. If you want to get regular updates on when I release more reviews, you can follow me at Twitter at @LSWayne21. And if you're still looking for your fix on wrestling, check out Enuffa.com, where I got my start in reviewing and still contribute from time to time. You can find this, and more Japanese wrestling, at the RealHero Archive found here.
Next up on Lions, Pillars, and Arks
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Wrestle Kingdom 9
1/4/15
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