January 24, 2011 – Tokyo, Japan
Dragon Kid {BW}, BUSHI {AJ} & Power Pro Mask vs. Susumu Yokosuka {W1}, KAGETORA {K} & Minoru {VM}
This is being billed as masked men vs. technicians. BUSHI and KAGETORA start. They trade holds on the mat. Yokosuka and Kid do their thing. Yokosuka hits a backbreaker. Kid hits a head scissor takedown. Mask frustrates Minoru with fancy stuff. Minoru hits a dropkick. Yokosuka goes after Mask’s mask but the referee stops him. KAGETORA hits a dropkick for 2. Minoru hits a snap suplex and a kneedrop for 2. Yokosuka puts on the STF. Mask gets to the ropes. Minoru wants a vertical suplex but Mask hits it on him. Mask hits an enziguiri. They both go for the tag but nobody is on the apron. Some dude makes a protein shake on the ramp. I’m guessing this is an All Japan thing because it’s over my head. Mask eats the protein and cleans house. Now that’s pro wrestling. BUSHI hits KAGETORA with a dropkick. Kid hits Yokosuka with the Déjà Vu. He hits a head scissor takedown on the floor. BUSHI hits a corkscrew crossbody. Mask hits a very funny plancha. BUSHI hits Yokosuka with a head scissor takedown. Yokosuka hits an exploder for 2. He hits a lariat. BUSHI hits a handspring elbow. Minoru hits a dropkick. Kid hits the Diamond Dust. Minoru hits a back heel kick. The cameraman falls down! Minoru puts on the Minoru Special. The technicians gang up on BUSHI in the corner. KAGETORA hits the leaping lariat for 2. Yokosuka bleeds from his nose as Kid hits him with the stack hurricanrana. Mask hits a standing moonsault. Yokosuka hits Kid with a delayed fisherman suplex. He hits the Jumbo no Kachi for 2. KAGETORA hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Minoru kicks him by mistake. Yokosuka hits him with a lariat by mistake. Mask hits a back suplex. Kid hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for the win at 14:55. This was rather run-of-the-mill aside from the very funny comedy stuff in the middle. After the match Minoru confronts the protein guy and roids up on his products.
Rating: **¾
BxB Hulk {W1}, Jinsei Shinzaki {MP} & TAJIRI {S} vs. Kaz Hayashi {AJ}, TAKA Michinoku {KD} & NOSAWA Rongai {TG}
Michinoku and TAJIRI start. They fight over an armbar. TAJIRI wins that exchange. He hits a shoulder tackle for 2. Hayashi hits Hulk with a shoulder tackle. Hulk hits a dropkick. Shinzaki tries the rope walk but Rongai shoves him to the floor. Shinzaki comes back with a shoulder tackle. He walks the ropes with Rongai’s arm in tow. Rongai kicks Hulk’s head for 2. Hayashi and Michinoku hit a double elbowdrop. Hayashi hits an Asai moonsault for 2. He and Rongai hit a double flapjack and a dropkick sandwich for 2. Michinoku goes to the eyes. He hits a leg lariat. Hulk hits a back heel kick. He hits a missile dropkick. TAJIRI hits a hiptoss. He hits Rongai with a superkick. He hits Michinoku with a leg lariat for 2. Michinoku goes to the eyes. Hayashi hits a leg lariat. TAJIRI hits a handspring elbow. Shinzaki hits a Judo chop. He hits a diving shoulder tackle. Rongai gets a small package for 2. He, Michinoku and Hayashi hit a triple superkick for 2. Hulk cleans house with kicks. He hits Rongai with a senton. Shinzaki puts on a straight jacket hold. Hayashi dropkicks TAJIRI. Hulk hits the Mouse. He hits a topé con hilo. Shinzaki hits Rongai with the Nembutsu Bomb for the win at 13:46. I was hoping for a lot of Hulk vs. Hayashi, but instead I got a mish mash of kicks and eye pokes and stumbling around. Very disappointing.
Rating: **
YAMATO {K} vs. Hiroshi Yamato {AJ}
I didn’t know much about All Japan’s Yamato before this match, but by the looks of the pre-match video he has a similar moveset to YAMATO. Their personas seem quite different, however. They lock up to start. Yamato powers YAMATO to the corner. YAMATO hits a shoulder tackle. Yamato hits a dropkick. They trade chops in an exchange that Yamato wins. Yamato hits a senton for 1. YAMATO sends him into the post. Yamato hits a back suplex. YAMATO hits a dropkick to the back. He puts on an armbar. Yamato gets to the ropes. YAMATO stands on his arm. Yamato fires back with elbows. YAMATO returns the favor. Yamato hits the uranage. He hits a spear I the corner. He hits a northern light suplex for 2. He hits another for 2. He avoids the punt so YAMATO goes back to the arm. Yamato gets to the ropes. They trade elbows and shout each other’s names. YAMATO kicks the arm. He rams it into the turnbuckle. He kicks it again. Yamato hits the spear. He hits a German suplex for 2. YAMATO hits an enziguiri. Yamato gets a roll up for 2. He gets la magistral for 2. YAMATO hits a big boot. He puts on the sleeper hold. He hits the sleeper suplex. He punts Yamato and hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits the Galleria for the win at 11:48. Another match with very little energy. I did like that YAMATO won because he had a real game plan, while the younger Yamato just came at him guns blazing.
Rating: **½
Naruki Doi {BW} & Naoki Tanisaki {BW} vs. Shuji Kondo {AJ} & KAI {AJ}
They play up Kondo’s past in Dragon Gate in the pre-match video, much to my delight. Tanisaki is subbing for the injured Kzy. He and KAI start but don’t do anything of note. Kondo tags in and gets the biggest reaction out of the crowd in a while. Doi keeps that going and we get a rather intense stare-down. Doi forces Kondo to the corner. Kondo returns the favor and hits a cheap slap. Doi fires back and the fans come to life! Doi dropkicks the knee. Tanisaki hits a back kick. KAI hits European uppercuts. He hits a dropkick for 2. Tanisaki hits a DDT. He and Doi hit a double elbow for 2. Doi goes after Kondo in the corner and gets smacked for his trouble. KAI hits a legdrop for 2. Kondo puts on a chinlock. Tanisaki makes the save. Doi hits a crossbody to the back and the Blue Thunder Bomb for 2. He hits a neckbreaker and a senton over Tanisaki’s knees for 2. KAI hits Tanisaki with an enziguiri. Kondo kills Tanisaki with a lariat while hitting Doi with a bulldog. I hate that he’s not in Dragon Gate anymore. He hits Tanisaki with the Lanzarse for 2. Tanisaki hits the DH. He hits the FH. He hits a kneelift. Kondo blocks the Casanova. He hits the Original II. Doi hits a hurricanrana. KAI hits a dropkick. Doi hits the capture dropkick and the hanging senton. KAI hits a springboard enziguiri. He hits a crazy suplex for 2. He superkicks Kondo by mistake. Doi hits the Dai Bosou on Kondo. Tanisaki hits the DH and Casanova on KAI for 2. Doi hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Tanisaki hits the Implant for 2 when Kondo makes the save. Kondo hits Tanisaki with the Original. Tanisaki gets a backslide for 2. KAI hits a thrust kick. He hits a double stomp for 2. He hits the LAT. He hits a frog splash for 2 when Doi makes the save. Kondo hits Doi with the Whale Hunt. KAI hits a suicide dive. Kondo blocks Tanisaki’s backslide and hits a lariat for 2. He hits the King Kong Lariat for the win at 15:28. I loved the way the Dragon Gate guys had trouble with Kondo but managed to hold their own for a while. They also managed to keep the crowd engaged, something nobody else had done to this point.
Rating: ***
Masaaki Mochizuki {Z}, Minoru Suzuki & Masakatsu Funaki vs. Sumo Fuji {Z}, Akebono & Ryota Hama {AJ}
SUMO FUJI!!! How can this not be awesome? This is the strikers (Suzuki and Funaki are both Pancrase alum and Mochizuki is Dragon Gate’s strike master) vs. the sumo guys. Sadly we don’t get any old Toryumon clips of Sumo Fuji before the match. He does come out last in his sumo gear because it was a surprise for him to be using the gimmick. The crowd eats it up. Funaki and Akebono start. They trade strikes until Akebono hits a lariat. Mochizuki hits Hama with a nutty kick that the big man no-sells. Hama starts to overpower him so Mochizuki hits a chest kick. Hama this a shoulder tackle. He misses an elbowdrop. Mochizuki hits a chest kick. Suzuki smacks Hama around the ring. Hama hits an avalanche. Fuji sumo throws Suzuki across the ring. Suzuki consents to a sumo fight, but then cheaply kicks Fuji to the mat. He tries to rip off Fuji’s mawashi but the referee stops him. Funaki hits a back elbow. He hits a bodyslam and puts on a triangle choke. Mochizuki and Suzuki add leglocks to the arrangement. Mochizuki holds the mawashi to keep Fuji from tagging out. He puts on a half crab. Suzuki literally kicks Fuji’s ass. He puts on a chinlock. He puts on a really sick leglock. Funaki stretches out Fuji’s legs so Hama runs in and throws his shirt over Fuji’s crotch. The crowd is very grateful. Mochizuki and Funaki kick the crap out of Fuji. Fuji catches Mochizuki with a powerslam. Akebono hits an avalanche and an elbowdrop for 2. He misses a splash. He hits Funaki with the World’s Strongest Slam. Hama hits an avalanche. He hits a butt splash. He hits a DDT. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. Funaki hits a dropkick. Fuji palm strikes Suzuki across the ring. He cleans house with his sick sumo style. He gets carried away and sumo throws Hama. Akebono puts an end to his madness. The big guys gang up on Suzuki in the corner. Fuji hits a chokeslam for 2. He hits a lariat for 2. Suzuki puts on a sleeper hold. Mochizuki hits a back heel kick. Funaki hits a koppo kick. Suzuki hits a chest kick for 2. Hama splashes Fuji by mistake. Akebono splashes them both by mistake. Fuji looks dead, so Suzuki smacks him and piledrives him by the mawashi for the win at 16:28. Great finish to a really fun freak show of a match. Fuji was a total star. I enjoyed this a lot, even more than I thought I would.
Rating: ***½
CIMA {BW}, Keiji Mutoh {AJ} & Jushin Liger {NJ} vs. Masato Yoshino {W1}, Suwama {AJ} & The Great Sasuke {MP}
This is a pretty star-studded match right here. It’s three of the biggest stars in the industry against Dragon Gate, All Japan and Michinoku Pro’s champions. Mutoh and Yoshino start. They go at it on the mat, where Mutoh is in control. Yoshino hits a supercharged dropkick. CIMA hits a chest kick. Yoshino hits a head scissor takedown. Suwama tags in and CIMA wants a test of strength. That goes badly for him. A chop exchange also goes Suwama’s way. Suwama hits a shoulder tackle. CIMA dropkicks the leg. He hits another dropkick. Suwama hits a shoulder tackle. Liger hits Sasuke with a shoulder tackle. Sasuke hits a head scissor takedown. Mutoh hits an elbowdrop. He puts Yoshino in a chinlock. Yoshino gets to the ropes. CIMA double stomps the arm. He hits the X Factor for 2. Yoshino locks in From Jungle but Liger makes the save. Liger puts on the Romero Special. CIMA hits a double stomp. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade. Suwama hits a lariat. He hits a belly-to-belly suplex for 2. Sasuke puts on an armbar. Liger hits Yoshino with a backbreaker. CIMA dropkicks Suwama off the apron. He hits Yoshino with a senton. Yoshino comes back with the Coumori. He hits the Track and Field Dropkick. Suwama hits a lariat. He hits a powerslam for 2. CIMA avoids the Last Ride and hits a snap suplex. Mutoh dropkicks Suwama’s knee. He cleans house with dragon screws. He puts Suwama in a figure 4 leglock. CIMA puts Sasuke in an octopus stretch. Liger catches Yoshino with an armbar. The all stars gang up on Suwama in the corner. Suwama cleans house with lariats. Sasuke and Yoshino hit a double dropkick. Yoshino hits the shotgun senton for 2. CIMA hits the ugliest Superdrol ever. Liger hits a koppo kick. Yoshino and Sasuke hit a double snap suplex. Mutoh blocks the Sol Naciente and Sasuke’s dropkick. CIMA hits Sasuke with the Tokarev. Mutoh hits the Shining Wizard for the win at 17:59. This started out really great, but down the stretch it got sloppy and disjointed, losing the crowd’s interest. It’s a shame really, as there was a lot of potential here. Sasuke did next to nothing too.
Rating: ***
After the match Mutoh and CIMA address the crowd and brings out all of the show’s participants. The show ends with a big photo op and the Warrior Uuuuu! Most notable is Susumu Yokosuka holding a towel over what is likely a broken nose.