5-Star Match Reviews: Yuma Aoyagi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima – AJPW, November 5, 2023

It has been a VERY long time since an AJPW match received the “coveted” 5-star treatment from Dave Meltzer…or in this case, 5-star PLUS.

The last time All Japan reached this supposed level of historic greatness was in October 1999 in a match involving two of the fabled Four Pillars, an Olympic-level grappler that is considered the unofficial “fifth pillar” and a guy who was known as “Rat Boy”. But not only is this the first AJPW match in 24 years reach such a level, but if Meltzer’s ratings are to be taken at face value and supposed biases taken out of the equation, then this is considered the best match in AJPW history. And considering how much wrestling that encompasses and how much the modern wrestling landscape has been influenced by AJPW’s 1990s golden decade, claiming that this is AJPW’s ultimate magnum opus is a bold statement, to say the least. Let’s see if such praise is deserved.

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The story

AJPW’s story post-2000 is one filled with constant attempts at fixing a gaping hole with different short-term stopgaps. The company survived the NOAH exodus for two years thanks to a few key factors: Toshiaki Kawada staying put instead of leaving, Genichiro Tenryu returning, Giant Baba’s widow Motoko doing everything possible to keep it afloat until at least its 30th anniversary in 2002, and both Keiji Muto and Satoshi Kojima jumping ship from New Japan after a year-long crosspromotional feud ran its course.

Muto ended up being a major player in AJPW’s future, for better and for worse. He became the company’s president in 2002 and tried to run it for a decade while also juggling in-ring commitments. Needless to say, he struggled to keep the company profitable and successful, especially as he embraced a more WWE-style entertainment-driven focus at the expense of the company’s King’s Road roots.

As the years went by and AJPW struggled to remain relevant, its roster grew thinner and main-event-level talent became scarcer. Since the company still took a ‘conservative’ booking approach and built itself around its top champion, whosoever held the Triple Crown signified where the company’s priorities were. Champions during the 2000s included Kawada, Kojima, SUWAMA, Yoshihiro Takayama, Kensuke Sasaki, and Moto wrestling as both himself and his alter-ego The Great Muta. At the start of the 2010s the company struggled to build local stars and so they relied on outsiders like NOAH’s Jun Akiyama, BJW’s Ryoto Hama, and Akebono (of WrestleMania 21 infamy). It wasn’t until much later in the decade that AJPW seemed to have newer faces to build around that could at least bring the company some stability. AJPW seemed to find a new ace in Kento Miyahara, who basically carried the company on his back from his first Triple Crown win in 2016 to his most recent loss in February 2023.

But AJPW couldn’t rely on Miyahara alone so they started pushing more rookies, including Aoyagi, who was modeled as a 2020s version of Jun Akiyama, down to the exact same blue tights that Akiyama wore during his 1990s ascent (literally: Akiyama gave Aoyagi a pair of his [presumably used] tights as a gift to show how much he respected the kid for his efforts). This upswing in momentum led to many titles, including his crowning achievement of winning the Triple Crown in July.

This was a career achievement, but there was trouble brewing. After defeating some of AJPW’s biggest names of the prior decade (including Miyahara, SUWAMA, and Kojima), Aoyagi found himself facing a serious threat: Katsuhiko Nakajima.

Nakajima has had an interesting career. He debuted in 2002 at the ripe old age of FOURTEEN and within three years and formed a close, almost paternal bond with his main trainer Kensuke Sasaki. He was to puro what Rey Mysterio was to lucha: a child prodigy that took to wrestling like a fish to water and soon found himself wrestling anywhere and everywhere while sharing the ring with legends. But there were two main differences between Mysterio and Nakajima: 1) Nakajima hasn’t made the same amount of money as Mysterio (probably because he doesn’t have mask he can sell to millions of people and make a fortune in royalties); and 2) Mysterio exposed an entire culture to lucha and influenced an entire generation of wrestlers and wrestling fans while Nakajima was more of a trend follower rather than a trend-setter. But there is one thing that, apparently, Nakajima does better than everyone else: kick. He kicks the same way that GUNTHER chops: with a realism and brutality that cannot be matched.

“Nakajima has the most amazing kicks, and he is accurate and does them to safe places, and has kick pads, but they sound like gunshots and I can’t imagine a lot of wrestlers wanting to do a match like this. It’s different from just about anyone in pro wrestling.” – Meltzer, November 13, 2023.

Nakajima was a huge get for AJPW, having spent over a decade in NOAH, where he won every single title and tournament possible. So not only was he was decorated as a challenger but he was also decorated. He had ten years’ worth of experience over Aoyagi and had shared the ring with legends of his sport. Aoyagi was younger but was still going through his first reign as champion. He had already beaten one AJPW ace, but could he beat a man so vicious that he once slapped an opponent and knocked him out for real?

https://twitter.com/PuroresuFlow/status/1535987173589147652

The match

This match originally took place on November 5, 2023. It was rated *****1/4 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

This is for Aoyagi’s Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. There’s a tense start as Nakajima lands a single kick to Aoyagi’s calf and he tries to brush it off. After a clean break on the ropes Nakajima lands more kicks and then the chain grappling begins. They trade armlocks and waistlocks, but when Aoyagi goes for a headlock Nakajima counters instantly with a Backdrop that spikes Aoyagi on his head.

The ref checks on Aoyagi to make sure he can continue, at which point Nakajima starts drilling him with punches to the head. Nakajima starts landing mocking kicks which make Aoyagi fire up. He lands a few shots back but Nakajima hits back with two snapmare/spine punt combos. Nakajima pins Aoyagi with his foot but the ref won’t count it so Nakajima kicks Aoyagi out of the ring.

At ringside Aoyagi tries fighting back but Nakajima rakes his eyes. Another strike exchange ends with Nakajima kicking Aoyagi’s chest in. back in the ring, Nakajima lands a corner yakuza kick and chokes Aoyagi with his foot. Nakajima boots him in the face again but then Aoyagi hits an Okada-style corner dropkick. Aoyagi follows by smashing Nakajima into the ringposts and then lands a DDT on the ringside mats. Aoyagi tosses Nakajima into the ring and covers for a two-count.

Nakajima escapes a chinlock so Aoyagi hits a piledriver for another two-count. Nakajima feigns being hurt which leads to another strike exchange. Aoyagi wins the exchange, hits some corner knees, and then dives off the top rope with a crossbody for yet another two-count. Aoyagi follows with a front chancery/hammerlock combo but again Nakajima gets a ropebreak at the ten-minute mark.

Aoyagi sends Nakajima into the ropes but Nakajima hits first with a sliding dropkick to the knee followed by a roundhouse/enzuigiri combo. Nakajima follows with another yakuza kick and a two-foot corner choke. Aoyagi tries fighting back but Nakajima ducks a forearm and lands another roundhouse. He keeps either blocking or ducking Aoyagi’s attacks and then lands a dragon screw leg whip. Nakajima locks in an STF but Aoyagi gets a ropebreak so Nakajima kicks him onto the apron. He attempts a Death Valley Bomb on the apron but Aoyagi blocks it and hits a back suplex, driving Nakajima spine-first onto the apron.

The fifteen-minute mark passes as Aoyagi begins his comeback with a running dropkick into a corner. He follows with a German suplex but Nakajima lands on his feet. Both men trade kicks, knees, and German suplexes at lightning speed, neither man staying down for more than a second. Nakajima follows with Randy Orton-like punt kick but only gets a two-count. He goes for a suplex but Aoyagi counters with a Brainbuster which causes both men to collapse.

After some downtime both men begin trading strikes while holding each other’s heads. This turns into a kick (Nakajima)/uppercut (Aoyagi) exchange that leads to another stalemate. Aoyagi misses a corner charge and Nakajima punts his spine again and then lands a thrust kick that looks like it knocks Aoyagi out on his feet. Nakajima lands more kicks to a sitting Aoyagi and charges for another running punt. But this time Aoyagi catches Nakajima’s foot and fires up with forearms. Aoyagi ducks a roundhouse and hits a German suplex. Nakajima charges again but runs into a Rock Bottom. One, two, Nakajima kicks out. Avalanche Cradle Northern Lights Bomb. Nakajima kicks out again. Nakajima escapes a second Northern Lights Bomb and superkicks Aoyagi but then he loses a follow-up kick exchange. Aoyagi follows with a cradle NLB but only gets another two-count. Aoyagi tries again but Nakajima escapes and slaps the taste out of Aoyagi’s mouth. Sheerdrop Brainbuster. Aoyagi kicks out. Aoyagi gets up slowly like he’s in some dramatic movie fight scene…only for Nakajima to spike him with another NLB. One, two, three! Nakajima wins AJPW’s world title!

Winner and NEW AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion after 24:12: Katsuhiko Nakajima

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3R3bNicIRE

Review

This doesn’t hold a candle to 1990s AJPW, not by a long shot. It was decent while it lasted but it wasn’t particularly new or unique. It had a surprisingly loud crowd and had the typical hard-hitting offense one expects of a puro promotion. But most of the stuff showcased here could be and has been seen elsewhere. There are dozens of wrestlers who have made roundhouse kicks to the chest popular. The whole “blistering exchange after escaping a German suplex” gimmick has been done to death since Kenny Omega started having those insane matches in New Japan in 2016. The standing strong style strike exchange gimmick is a tired and overplayed cliché that makes the wrestling look silly and not realistic.

Even with a decent story of the local champion defending against the vicious and more experienced outsider, there wasn’t anything truly exceptional here. It was a tad underwhelming, especially given how much effort was put into building Nakajima’s return to AJPW after fifteen years away.

Final Rating: ***

I usually have more to say about reviews but there simply isn’t much to this match. Meltzer hyped this as being something out of a movie fight scene but it wasn’t anywhere that exciting or dramatic. There are so many other matches, wrestlers, and entire periods that did a better job of what was shown here. Guys like KENTA and Bryan Danielson got WAY much out of roundhouse kicks to the chest. Marufuji had more fluid exchanges, even when they were at their most absurd. Kazuchika Okada does a way better dropkick, whether it’s standing or to an opponent in a corner. Kenny Omega in New Japan had more exciting finishing sequences, even if they also veered into the realm of being cartoonish. And of course, when it came to classic match structure and thunderous crowds, even worst Misawa/Kawada or Misawa/Kobashi match blows this contest out of the water.

This match is fine if you like kicks that sound like GUNTHER’s chops and a sense of physicality that might make you wince and question the sanity of the men involved, this’ll tickle your fancy. But this is far from any sort of historic epic and doesn’t come anywhere close to what AJPW’s wrestlers achieved thirty years ago.

Thanks for reading. You can email me with any questions or comments, and be sure to check out my 5-Star and Almost 5-Star Match Reviews series here.