December 7, 2002 – Mexico City, Mexico

The show starts with clips of clips of the Young Dragon’s Cup in Mexico, featuring Toryumon wrestlers. By in large this is the first time the Toryumon X class has been featured in any way. In the quarterfinal round Berlinetta Boxer fell to SUWAcito, Condotti Shuji beat Small Dandy Fujii, Koichiro Arai lost to Jun Ogawauchi and Taiji Ishimori beat Henry III Sugawara.

Condotti Shuji {IC} vs. SUWAcito {MM} [Semifinal Match]
SUWAcito would go on to be KAGETORA. They trade strikes to start. Shuji works the leg. Berlinetta Boxer slugs away at the leg. Shuji dropkicks the leg. He puts on a half crab. SUWAcito gets to the ropes. Small Dandy Fujii distracts Shuji and SUWAcito hits a leaping lariat. Shuji falls to the floor so SUWAcito hits a suicide dive. Shuji rushes the ring and clotheslines the leg. SUWAcito hits a flapjack. He hits the Jon Woo. He goes for the FFF but Shuji hits a backdrop to block. SUWAcito blocks the Lanzarse, but gets distracted by Boxer. Shuji hits the Jackhammer and puts on the Gorilla Clutch for the win at 6:39. After the match Shuji and Boxer continue beating on Mini Max. The match was fine for one featuring a guy who’d been wrestling less than a year.
Rating: **

Taiji Ishimori vs. Jun Ogawauchi [Semifinal Match]
Ishimori hits a leg lariat to start. Ogawauchi comes back with a chop and a knee kick for 2. Ishimori hits a handspring elbow. He dropkicks the back. Ogawauchi hits a back kick. He hits a backbreaker. He hits a shinbreaker and puts on a Boston crab. Ishimori gets to the ropes. He dropkicks the leg and hits a slingshot legdrop for 2. Ogawauchi hits a spin kick for 2. Ishimori hits a sunset flip for the win at 4:57. I wasn’t wild about this, but Ishimori’s reaction to winning is fantastic.
Rating: *

Condotti Shuji {IC} vs. Taiji Ishimori [Tournament Finals]
In something of an omen of things to come, the Pirates of the Caribbean music plays over a commercial before this match. That same music would be used ad nauseum in El Dorado, a company heavily featuring Shuji. Shuji overpowers Ishimori to start. Ishimori comes back with a head scissors takedown. He hits an armdrag and a handspring elbow. Boxer distracts Ishimori and Shuji attacks from behind. Shuji hits a back elbow for 2. Boxer hits a few cheap shots. Shuji hits a bodyslam for 2. Ishimori hits a crossbody. Shuji hits a back suplex for 2. Ishimori hits leg lariats. He hits a head scissors takedown, sending Shuji into Boxer on the floor. He hits an Asai Moonsault off the top rope. Shuji drops him on the top rope. He hits a lariat for 2. Ishimori hits a German suplex for 2. Shuji hits a powerbomb for 2. Ishimori blocks the Lanzarse with a hurricanrana. He hits an Asai Moonsault for 2. Shuji clotheslines his leg up top. He hits a super Jackhammer for 2 when Ishimori grabs the bottom rope. Shuji puts on the Gorilla Clutch but Ishimori counters to a roll up for the win at 10:21 shown of 11:55. That was excellent for two guys with as little experience as these two, and it should come as no surprise that they’re both wrestling for bigger companies now.
Rating: **¾

For whatever reason SUWAcito is awarded third place in the post-tournament awards ceremony. One would think that would go to Ogawauchi since he lost to the tournament winner, but that one would think wrong. Shuji and Boxer steal Ishimori’s trophy and run off.

December 26, 2002 – Tokyo, Japan

We now move on to a T2P special from later in the month, headlined by a huge title match.

Anthony W. Mori {RB}, Henry III Sugawara {RB} & Phillip J. Fukumasa {RB} vs. Kinya Oyanagei, Noriaki Kawabata & Jun Ogawauchi
Sugawara and Ogawauchi start. Ogawauchi controls on the mat. Kawabata hits Fukumasa with an elbow. He hits a hiptoss. Oyanagei and Mori let their manners get the better of them. Mori works the arm. He puts on a bow and arrow. Fukumasa and Ogawauchi trade chops. Ogawauchi and Kawabata double-team Fukumasa. Oyanagei jumps off their backs to attack Fukumasa. Mori hits a back suplex for 2. The Royal Brothers trap all three opponents in submissions. Fukumasa hits Oyanagei with a spin kick. He puts on an STF but Oyanagei gets to the ropes. Sugawara hits Kawabata with a vertical suplex for 2. Kawabata puts on an armbar but Mori makes the save. The Royal Brothers again lock in submissions on all three opponents, but they all reverse the holds. Ogawauchi swings Oyanagei into the Royal Brothers. Oyanagei hits Mori with a stunner for 2. Ogawauchi hits Mori with a Death Valley Bomb for 2 when Sugawara makes the save. Sugawara and Mori hit him with a double-team TKO. Sugawara finishes Ogawauchi with a spinning torture rack at 11:42. This was pretty sloppy, and never engaged the crowd. They kept it from being boring for over ten minutes, but this wasn’t an appropriate opener.
Rating: **

Syachihoko Machine #1 & Syachihoko Machine #2 vs. Syachihoko Machine #3 & Syachihoko Machine #4 [Masks vs. Masks Match]
I don’t know which team is which as all four guys look exactly the same, so it’s hard for me to do any kind of play by play. The Machines try to differentiate the teams by removing the black belts from one team. The belted team dominates early, and hit a double moonsault for 2. They hit a boosted vertical suplex for 2. One of the beltless Machines hits a plancha on a belted Machine. Two black Syachihoko Machiens run out and beat on everyone. The gold Syachihoko Machines work together to fight off the black ones. The beltless Machines gain control, and roll up a belted Machine for the win at 4:40. I can’t think of a reason that this match needed interference, or why more Machines needed to be created, but here we are.
Rating: ¼*

The belted Machines unmask and are revealed to be a pair of twin blonde dudes name Shu and Kei Sato from Toryumon X. They would go on to be Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei in El Dorado.

YOSSINO {IC} vs. K-ness {DF}
K-ness still basically looks like Darkness Dragon. YOSSINO attacks before the bell. He hits a back elbow. He puts on the Coumori but Susumu Yokosuka breaks itup with a dropkick. Do Fixer works over YOSSINO while keeping the Italian Connection at bay. K-ness hits a shoulder tackle. He dropkicks YOSSINO’s knee. He puts on a leglock but YOSSINO gets to the ropes. K-ness hits a dragon screw. He attacks the leg against the post. He hits a shinbreaker and puts on a figure 4 leglock. YOSSINO gets to the ropes. K-ness splashes the leg. He hits a clothesline for 2. He hits an enziguiri. He hits the Darkness Bottom for 2. He puts on the Sharpshooter but YOSSINO gets to the ropes. Shuji trips K-ness and Pescatoré Yagi hits a headbutt. YOSSINO puts on the From Jungle but K-ness gets to the ropes. YOSSINO hits a facebuster for 2. He hits the Sling Blade for 2. K-ness puts on the Judah but the Italian Connection makes the save. They gang up on K-ness in the corner. Shuji clotheslines YOSSINO by mistake and Do Fixer goes to work. K-ness hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits the Darkness Driver for 2. He hits the Shouryuukyaku for 2, but then lifts up YOSSINO. Classic heel mistake. YOSSINO hits the Torbellino out of nowhere and puts on the Sol Naciente for the win at 13:20. The crowd flips out at the upset, and even without seeing the context of the feud this felt like a big deal. The work was good and both guys wrestled with incredible speed.
Rating: ***½

After the match YOSSINO asks for a match for K-ness’s NWA World Welterweight Championship.

Milano Collection AT © {IC} vs. CIMA {CM} [NWA International Light Heavyweight Championship Match]
If CIMA wins the T2P promotion has to disband. He gets a takedown to start but AT catches him in an Italian Stretch. CIMA gets to the ropes. The Italian Connection beats on CIMA on the floor, but Crazy Max saves him. The Italian beating continues in the ring until Crazy Max saves again. TARU hits AT with the Kakato Otoshi. CIMA hits mounted punches. He dropkicks AT’s knee. AT comes back with the Million Dollar Dream. CIMA gets to the ropes. AT puts on a wacky full nelson. CIMA hits a low blow. AT returns the favor. Shuji argues with the referee, but SUWA attacks him and the referee gets wiped out. Things break down completely until head referee Yasushi Kanda runs down and restores order. CIMA hits a back suplex. He hits another. He blocks an enziguiri and puts on a half crab. AT gets to the ropes. He hits an enziguiri and puts on an octopus stretch. CIMA quickly escapes and hits a snap suplex. AT stretches his arm. CIMA gets to the ropes. Don Fujii hits AT with a chair. CIMA hits the Venus. He avoids the AT Lock and counters the Paradise Lock to a roll up for 2. AT hits a suplex. The Emporio Armani Shoe hits CIMA’s knees. AT blocks a superkick and puts on a stepover toehold full nelson. He puts on the Paradise Lock. He hits the Armani Shoe Exchange. CIMA attacks his head and hits a Rocker Dropper. He hits a superkick and the Schwein for the win and the title at 11:48. Ridiculous interference aside this was fantastic. The crowd ate it up and wanted more when it was over. If it wasn’t for the stipulation I’d question the decision to put CIMA over, but it was time for the T2P guys to come to Toryumon Japan.
Rating: ****

After the match CIMA invites T2P wrestlers to come to Toryumon Japan now that T2P was finished. Magnum TOKYO came out and said that Do Fixer is the future, not T2P. Masaaki Mochizuki came out and had a few words for CIMA and TOKYO as well. CIMA gets to end the show, celebrating with his new title.

There were three matches cut from the T2P show to make time for the Young Dragons Cup feature, but I’m fine with that. The matches that remained were either historically significant or good matches, save for the crappy opener.