I don't want to surprise anyone, but Grad School while working full time eats up any decent gaps for wrestling.But I will persist, because people need to know about All Japan Pro Wrestling! (And NOAH, but we'll get to that). New Year's War is the usual 2 day event that sets the tone for the year in a whole. We had most of the company's titles on the line (Sorry, All Asia Tag) and some of the undercard shows a good amount of promise. We're losing watching time for NOAH before New Japan's New Beginnings, so let's get rolling
Night One
Atsushi Maruyama, Dick Togo and Masanobu Fuchi vs. Osamu Nishimura, Ultimo Dragon and Yohei Nakajima
Fuchi is so, ridiculously not good. I'm sorry if I'm missing something here, if he was much better when he was younger, or if I just have a lack of nostalgia, but I will never complain about Manabu Nakanishi again. Opening comedy about closed fists between Fuchi and Dragon, and thank Shinya that things picked up after Dick Togo and Yohei came in to bring life to the whole thing. Togo puts on the greatest crossface of all time, Yohei bent in angles that shouldn't be possible in a submission like this, and tapped out.
*1/2
Kento Miyahara, Naoya Nomura, and Yuma Aoyagi (NEXTREAM), and Yoshitatsu vs. Hikaru Sato, KAI, Ryouji Sai and The Bodyguard
The latter team is the most random amalgamation of people we could muster on this roster. Kento Miyahara remains awesome, but he needs to try less when it comes to getting attention from the crowd. Or maybe that's the reaction he was going for, I don't know. Bodyguard, sweet Bodyguard, remains awesome here, knowing exactly who he is and being allowed to continue his legacy. KAI seems to be stepping up his game too, based on wheat I remember from him a few months ago. Match broke down with Kento and Sato in the ring. Sato tries to be Pancrase, but it goes poorly when he gets Roundhoused by Yoshitatsu and hit with the Blackout Knee twice.
**
One cannot describe, nor rate, the New Year's Rumble. Everyone should go watch the New Year's Rumble. It's high comedy and I have it written in as the best battle Royal ever. KAI won, but that's besides the point.
Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori, Koji Iwamoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Suwama, and Atsushi Aoki (Evolution)
Another thing I've missed since I fell behind on All Japan was when Aoki started wearing a singlet and mask. I want to remind you all that Suwama and Ishikawa's team name is Violence Giants, and it's all over their gear. I love this name and I love this team. The match near immediately started as a traveling brawl, the crowd was eating it up when they saw the chaos. This match got me ready for the next day's tag title match, the only goal that really had to be accomplished. A great exchange happened at the end where Aoki finally got an armbar on Iwamoto for the submission. Get ready for Giants vs. Burning, everyone
**1/2
AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship (3rd Defense)
TAJIRI (c) vs. Kotaro Suzuki
TAJIRI's music is one of my favorite things about this match, along with Suzuki's gear. Whoops, just gave away how I thought about the whole thing. It started alright, there was a long and thorough feeling out between the two. It brought a sense of gravity to the whole match when both men seemed hesitant to go right in and possibly make a mistake. This pace continued for a few minutes, until Kotaro landed a gutbuster to gain control. From here the match continued, and crowd began to get into it. Then, abruptly, TAJIRI went for the mist, it was blocked once (literally, Kotaro held his hands over TAJIRI's mouth), but 30 seconds later Mist was delivered, followed by the Buzzsaw Kick and the pin. It felt like the beginning and ending stretch of a really great match, but for the time it got (12:42) it didn't work with the middle cutout. Maybe I'm just overly critical given what NOAH and NJPW give for the Junior Division, but to be critical is to care.
**3/4
Joe Doering (c) vs. Zeus
"Show me your Fucking Power!" Joe Doering shouts , setting the mood for a fucking awesome Title Defense. In a rare moment, Zeus had to be the quick wrestler of the two, since Joe towers over him and lifting him consistently just wouldn't work. He got dominated early on in the match, because Joe Doering doesn't play games like Kento or Suwama does. If you can't tell by the way I talk, I love Joe. The debate on who the better draw is could go on forever, the question of who the better Gaijin is? In the classical sense of what a gaijin should be? It's Joe; the monster, the asskicker, the man. Zeus did his best to wear the champions down, but like waves crashing against a castle it did little. To his credit, towards the ending of the match Zeus had momentum on his side, until Joe's raw strength proved too much. The grandmother of all lariats layed Zeus out, and the Powerbomb after was a formality. Long may Doering reign.
****1/4
Night 2
Yohei Nakajima vs. Yusuke Okada
Yohei really stripped himself down. No more hair dye, no more ripaway pants, but he still had exquisite music. I need a CD of All Japan's themes for the gym. Okada is very promising, and looked good for what he did in this match. Yohei cut him off, double foot stomp, put him in the Boston Crab. Nothing to see here, moving on.
*1/2
Masanobu Fuchi & Osamu Nishimura vs. Koji Iwamoto & Ultimo Dragon
I reached my breaking point in this match. I can't be doing this bullshit with Fuchi and comedy anymore. There's a lot of things I could be doing with my life, and I'll be doing approximately 10 minutes more of anything else each day. If Masanobu ever partakes in something significant (Like the Rumble, or a title match) I'll watch it and rate it. Until then, there's an indefinite ban on Masanobu Fuchi matches on this blog.
Atsushi Aoki (Evolution) and Hikaru Sato vs. Keiichi Sato and Kotaro Suzuki
Alright, now the show's gonna pick up. Keiichi Sato, a Young Boy, has the sweetest mustache and goatee you'll see on these shows, plus he shows as much potential as young Okada. He got schooled for a bit by the other side's Sato, before their partners really lit it up. Sato can move great and got a lot on Aoki.. However, as many Young Boys before him and after him, it was not his night. He had his back broken twice by Atsushi, thankfully the second breaking put the pieces back in place from the first time, before being put in a cloverleaf. Kotaro tried to help his partner, but Hiraku caught him with an armbar in a great tactical move as Keiichi tapped out. A really fun junior tag match.
**1/2
Black Tiger & Joe Doering vs. KAI & TAJIRI
Thankfully TAJIRI put his working boots on for this match. He and KAI took everything and threw it at Doering, hoping to quell the giant. It was a great start with KAI throwing TAJIRI into the ropes for a handspring before diving out immediately after. The two of them kept the match as fast paced as possible, trying to keep Black Tiger in the ring as much as long as possible, until Joe came in to destroy. And destroy he did for what time he could. The ref took a bump towards the end, crushed by KAI, before TAJIRI hit the champion with the mist and killing the legal Black Tiger with a Buzzsaw kick. KAI meanwhile, as the legal man, Landslides Doering before frog splashing Tiger for the pin. Had to rewind just to follow what was actually happening. Really fun at the end of things, and set up KAI as the challenger handily.
**3/4
Naoya Nomura vs. Ryouji Sai
Ryouji took about 80% of the offense to have in this match. He stretched and hit Nomura forever, and all I could really think is that he shouldn't be wearing the vibrant colors he is when he's coming off as such a killer. Hindsight is 20/20, and with Sai now holding the All Asia Heavyweight Title this whole thing makes more sense. Naoya made a comeback eventually, and at that point the match got better as the action went back and forth. Match was ended when Ryouji hit a Superplex then a running knee to his kneeling foe. If you wanna see just what Ryouji Sai can do, watch this match.
**3/4
Kento Miyahara and Yuma Aoyagi (NEXTREAM) and Yoshitatsu vs. Atsushi Maruyama, The Bodyguard and Zeus
We were blessed by Uncle Jun in this match with Bodyguard and Yoshitatsu going at it. I was immediately so happy. Even coming off of failing to capture the Triple Crown again, Zeus was as confident and smooth as usual, especially when he was in there against Kento. Then again, Kento makes everyone he works with look good. Great, fast action that broke down into fun chaos, ending with new guy Maruyama in the ring with Kento. He asked for it, literally, and payed for it by eating knee, then getting German Suplex Held. I know I'm very understated here, but it was actually a very fun match. I'm mostly glad to see Yoshitatsu doing so well. After being knocked outta New Japan I was worried he might muddle around and never find his feet again. But here, and the night before, he showed hes really doing well for himself in-ring these days.
***1/4
Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori (c) vs. Shuji Ishikawa and Suwama (Evolution)
You gotta feel really bad for the champs here. Their reign was much more a necessity than a decision out of popularity. For everyone who's just joining us, the All Japan Tag Titles have been plagued by crippling injuries all year. Kengo Mashimo, Jake Lee, and Yuji Okabayashi all fell to injuries during their reigns with the titles, forcing a quick title turnaround once and Vacancy twice. I'm convinced Jun and Takao took the belts only so they had time to decide just what the fuck was gonna be done. What I'm trying to say is that this match was a brutal necessity to finally get the belts onto a dependable team, both for match quality and safety. I'll give it to Shuji and Suwama, they had a really good match with Wild Burning at the end of the day. The match started slow, but around the time Suwama got the tag from a beat down Ishikawa the action started to ramp up and the crowd got into it. A great comeback shot this match into awesome tag territory, with double teams coming often, and falls just nearly broken up by partners. Jun got folded in half by Suwama with a backdrop at one point, followed by a double Splash Mountain for an almost finish, and minutes later Ishikawa hit a scary looking Splash Mountain on his own for the titles. The second half was great, but the first half was slow trudge through nothing. But this was the best result for everyone, and I hope Violence Giant's reign lasts as long as Joe Doering's.
***1/2
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.
See you down the Road.
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