All Japan Pro Wrestling: New Year’s Eve 2024

Perhaps not the big winter Japanese show review you were hoping for, but it’s the one you’re getting. Let’s get to it, we got 2500 in Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2. We have a video package interspersed with interviews of the talent (all dressed up) and a run-down of the card to start us.

MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Taishin Nagao vs. Fuminori Abe, Seigo Tachibana & Yuko Miyamoto

Background: Abe’s team are all dressed in red pants and blazers to match Seigo’s regular look (though Abe takes the pants off for his black trunks before the match), Fuminori and Seigo have had a pretty lengthy feud this year over various titles but it’s a friendly one and they’ve teamed as well. Abe has a tightly shorn head, Seigo has an undercut, and Yuko is a floppy cut. Miyamoto is a death match guy working as an undercard junior for AJPW. Their opponents are ex-All Asia tag-champions MUSASHI and Seiki, and new rookie Taishin. Nago is in green, Seiki and MUSASHI are in their regular, MUSASHI with the black and white woodprint style pants and Seiki in his shiny silver pants. Most everybody here is a babyface and we’re sure to get some silliness as well.

The Match: Nagao and Yuko start and the rookie does some fancy wrestling before the vet takes him down and smirks. Taishin gets worked over with weardown holds and sells and screams as a rookie is supposed to, and uh, man he is SMALL. Seigo comes in and lets Nagao tag out so we get Seiki in. We get Seiki kicking Tachibana down so Seigo can do his taunts, and then Seiki does Seigo’s taunt in response and that gets Tachibana to actually be aggressive. But Seiki rams Seigo into the corner and brings in MUSASHI for some doubles. Nagao tags in to keep the abuse up but that obviously doesn’t work and Seigo reverses a slam and brings in Abe to brutalize the rook. Yuko then follows and stomps Nagao out in the corner while Abe slaps him from the outside, getting actual boos! Taishin then breaks free and gets a missile dropkick and in comes MUSASHI for a hot tag! Chops to Yuko! Reverse a whip and get a springboard stomp! But MUSASHI gets cut off by the other team, though Seigo eats the bulk of it as MUSASHI blocks Abe’s offense with him. Back to MUSASHI and Yuko, and MUSASHI mostly has it until Miyamoto gets a standing moonsault knee drop and brings in Seigo. Tachibana gets a Manhattan drop, poses, running forearm, poses, just stops wrestling for a bit to pose and taunt and then STO MUSASHI. B-Driver attempt but Seiki flies in to land the scissor kick and the former champs do some more doubling and get double thrust kicks and Nagao is on the corner begging for a tag…and MUSASHI obliges. The rookie with a missile dropkick, but he knocks Seigo into the corner and Abe comes in, but Taishin gets Abe with a dropkick and then a body slam. Boston Crab by Nagao but Yuko and Seigo come in to break it up and Taishin stands strong! But the red pant crew take him out and break up the crab. MUSASHI and Seiki back in…to eat a double handspring elbow from Yuko and now Seigo gets a tope. Back to Abe vs. Nagao and we get a few flash rollup attempts by the rookie for nearfalls but Taishin gets into a slugfest and Abe tears him apart and gets a PK for 2.8. Manji-gatame by Abe follows and Nagao taps.

**¼

Mostly just a whatever trios match but the storyline of Nagao being the weak link but getting overconfident was solid. Seigo’s comedy also was closer to grating for me than it normally is.

All Japan Pro Wrestling New Year’s Eve Rumble

Background: Yeah no real idea about this other than a “let’s get everybody else on the card” sorta thing. 60 seconds between entrants and over the top and pin rules it seems like.

The Match: We start with Suwama, and man, it’s kind of a drop down the card for this guy, and of course next up we have his eternal frenemy/partner, Hideki Suzuki. And we immediately get the both of them having a towel fight and then they jostle around for a bit and I’m sorry but Hideki is wearing white, vertically striped trunks with red and yellow lines and it’s just hideous. Next up is Hikaru Sato, and I guess we’re doing an all Evolution/Baka no Jidai opening (that’s the stable all these guys are in that have multiple names cause of the frenemy stuff). Anyway Sato chokes Suwama a bit and then in what I swear is less than 60 seconds we got Shotaro Ashino out there and he looks…less than interested. And he just chills outside for a while as all three guys in the ring brawl. We finally get Shotaro in and uh, guess it’s immediately the next guy and that’s Kumaarashi of Hokuto-Gun. No eliminations so far! And Kuma doesn’t do anything either so now we got Aizawa NO. 1, another Hokuto-Gun member who has a bottle of champagne with him that he drains on his way to the ring, and if you can’t believe it, he doesn’t do anything either except take off his ornate ring-gear and crawl into the ring. Well at least he eats a slam from Shotaro before other Hokuto-Gun member Hartley Jackson runs around doing his pre-match bulldozing bit. And he steps into the ring and just brawls gently with Shotaro and what do you know, a new person is out now! Kumagoro Hokkai who is a guy in a black bear suit holding a…carp plushie? Okay, he hugs Sato and then Aizawa eats a whip and nothing has happened yet. And yep, out comes Kuroshio TOKYO Japan to run through the crowd and dance and climb up the mezzanine and all that stuff and uh, nothing happens as he dances around until Minoru Suzuki is next. Yet again, zero eliminations so far. Well Suzuki makes the ring and rakes Kuma’s eyes and here comes the last entrant…Ultimo Dragon. Ah, that’s kinda neat I guess. Well we finally have something happening as Minoru and Dragon kick each other gently. Everybody tries to eliminate Minoru but it doesn’t work and we go back to Suzuki and Dragon. Hokuto-Gun beat up on Kumagoro but Aizawa gets too froggy and Ultimo gets La Magistral for 3. Woo! An elimination! But everybody just leans on Dragon and he gets eliminated too. Hartley Jackson knocks everybody down and does his taunt…and gets eliminated. Well things are happening. Kumagoro knocks everybody down with his stuffed fish but gets dizzy from spinning, falls down, and is pinned by the group. Shotaro gutwrenches Hideki and then tries to German the other Kuma, Kumaarashi, and they slug it out. Ashino finally Germans him for 2 and transitions to an ankle lock…but when he goes to the grapevine the group pins Ashino! Ha, okay that’s clever. And then they pin Kuma too, just for the heck of it. Shotaro and Kumaarashi brawl to the back as the group gangs up on Kuroshio who sells fear before spamming the jacket punches that they all no-sell. And Kuroshio gets surrounded and verbally submits before even being bludgeoned. And Sato calls out Minoru and we have a chop fight. Hikaru wins with a gamengiri and Suwama and Hideki are just watching this amused. Sato goes for an armbar but Minoru reverses it and Sato taps. Now Hideki and Suwama fight while Minoru watches, but Minoru breaks up an abdominal stretch by the other Suzuki before pretending he didn’t. Suwama with a belly-to-belly on Hideki for 2 and then some chops. Hideki responds with a dropkick and Minoru offers to help but Suwama fires up and gets some chops but the two MMA guys go at Suwama…before Minoru betrays Hideki and gets the piledriver for the 3. Suwama and Minoru then slug it out, Suzuki gets the sleeper and then tries a piledriver but Suwama is too big and goes for a powerbomb out of the corner, Suzuki tries to get a triangle but Suwama dumps Minoru over the ropes anyway.

¼*

And that’s generous. Bad, bad match with horrible agenting but at least it had two decent eliminations. Way too long though.

Post-match Minoru does his routine and breaks some stuff and Suwama poses.

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Dan Tamura

Background: So there was stuff over the World’s Strongest Tag Determination League but mostly Sekimoto (from Big Japan) is an established big block of beef and Dan Tamura is still a rookie who is trying to establish himself as a big block of beef. So we’re getting some beefiness. Both guys are in black trunks, Dan has long hair and is pale and Daisuke is tanner and he’s about as wide as he is tall.

The Match: We start with respectful handshakes and then both guys grapple, not a lockup, but fighting for headlocks and positioning and going for single-legs. Now we get the lockup and Tamura gets swallowed up and given the clean break. Tamura looks a bit nervous here. Second lockup and Tamura gets a headlock out of it but Daisuke shakes him off and we get to the clubbering! Sekimoto whiffs on a dropkick though and Tamura lands a shoulder to the downed vet. Tamura stomps away and beats on Sekimoto in the corner but Daisuke counters a whip with his own shoulderblock that sends Dan flying and now it’s the Big Japan man to abuse the kid, clubbing forearms and a standing headscissors necksnap. Sekimoto delivers a few elbow drops, more clubbing forearms, and more necksnaps before grinning like a madman, getting a hangman’s neckbreaker and then a camel clutch. Tamura is just hollering in pain and when he reaches out for the ropes Sekimoto grabs the arm and turns it into a cut-throat hold. Dan uses his other hand to make the ropes and he breaks. The ref admonishes Daisuke for this who just shrugs it off and then obliterates Tamura in the corner with chops, the rookie’s pale chest turning a bright red. Dan reverses though and unleashes his own shots in the corner…and then Sekimoto switches that around and shreds him once again. Dan is punch-drunk and flailing, but he reverses a whip into a shoulderblock and we get a double down! Tamura up and we get a snap suplex and a roar to show his dominance and then a gutwrench suplex to keep it going. Tamura goes for a fireman’s carry but Daisuke stuffs it, gets his own gutwrench and does a sort of inverted Oklahoma Stampede into the turnbuckle. A senton and a falling splash by Sekimoto get 2 and an eyeroll at the ref for their count. Now Daisuke goes for a fireman’s carry and Tamura fights out and we get another slug fest. Sekimoto with a brainbuster, but Tamura pops up with a lariat and we get another double down. Tamura climbs up top and gets cut off for a superplex attempt, but Dan fights it off and gets a running powerbomb out of the corner. Dan gets the delayed cover for 2.7 and Daisuke is giving a great bug-eyed reaction at this. They both make their feet and the youngster unloads some short-range lariats at Sekimoto who refuses to drop, and then comes back with his own and puts Tamura on his behind…but the kid keeps getting up. Daisuke gets the German and the running crossbody for 2 and is irritated this kid won’t just stay down, so he cuts his head off with a lariat and that gets 3.

***½

I don’t think this is quite the epic that maybe they wanted it to be and I still don’t buy Tamura at the level I think they want him to be bought at, but the kid put up one heck of a fight against one of the most underrated guys in the business in Sekimoto. Just two guys trying to be the toughest dudes around, forgoing dodging, evasion, or subterfuge and just clubbing the absolute daylights out of each other. This is maybe a stereotype of what all puro is, but sometimes it scratches a particular itch.

Hokuto-Gun (Hokuto Omori, Cyrus the Destroyer, & Jack Kennedy) vs. Saito Brothers (Rei Saito, “Mister Saito” Naruki Doi, & Senor Saito)

Background: So Hokuto-Gun is Hokuto Omori, a young ex-MMA guy turned AJPW talent, doing a Nobuhiko Takada inspired Generalissimo gimmick with his army of big weirdo monsters, the monsters of today are Cyrus th Destroyer, a big, fat, bald, singlet-wearing southern-fried behemoth, and Jack Kennedy, a floppy haired kinda tall white guy with a headband and a build that is less “terrifying bulk” and more “kinda pudgy” they’re all the current trios champions, though those belts are pretty meaningless in All Japan (and well, everywhere else too). They’ve been feuding the last couple months against the Saito Brothers, which are a team of Rei and Jun Saito who are the dominant World Tag Team Champions, and their various goofball junior ‘relatives’. Naruki Doi is a Dragon Gate legend turned feisty heel veteran, and their current Junior Heavyweight champion, Senor Saito is MAZADA, one of those guys that was never a big star but won gold everywhere (mostly in teams, most famously with NOSAWA Rongai) and is half-junior, half-deathmatch, half-comedy geek. Rei is big and burly and has long hair but lost his beard recently in a match with Jun, Naruki is tan and lean and has short hair, and Senor Saito has a mask (of course) and looks all of his 49 years of age.

The Match: Cyrus is out first waving the steps around and threatening officials as only a good monster can, and Hokuto makes his entrance being carried ot the ring by Hartley Jackson, Aizawa No. 1, and Kumaarashi while Jack Kennedy is just…walking sadly behind them. Not like he’s sad, he just makes me sad. Anyway, we all do a big brawl and they wander around the ringside area bludgeoning each other and going through the crowd and just sorta go through stuff, the brawling eventually dies down and I guess we finally get Senor Saito and Jack Kennedy doing some stuff in the ring, but the camera is mostly focused on Cyrus bringing a ring barricade to ringside. Senor Saito does an eyepoke but Kennedy slams him down and gets an elbow drop…but Senor squirms away and brings in Rei and Jack brings in Hokuto. They do a lockup and Rei swallows him up but Omori reverses it in the ropes and does his blow a kiss taunt. Rei proceeds to slap him and they’re a clubbering! Hokuto does his precise body shots and Rei just flattens him with a running body attack and in comes Doi to hot-dog and preen…and Omori tags in Cyrus and they do the “he’s behind me, isn’t he?” thing. Doi is left to die by his teammates and he tries some stuff and Cyrus no sells it and we milk a bodyslam spot for a while before Cyrus just pats him on the head, tosses Doi to the ground and just steps on him. Another slam and in comes Jack Kennedy, lamely. Jack gets a delayed blockbuster slam while he tries to rile the crowd up. Cyrus back in and Doi gets loose for a low dropkick and that lets him bring in Rei as we get a big fatman standoff with shoulderblocks and then some running corner attacks, and then Rei loads up the chops and does the whole rigamarole before his hotdogging lets Cyrus come back and we get a Frye/Takayama sequence! Cyrus collapses into the corner and that brings in Hokuto with a missile dropkick, and Rei just shrugs it off and the Saito Brothers all beat the heck out of Omori. Neckbreaker by Noi! Running splash by Rei! Leg drop by Senor! But Cyrus breaks it up by tossing Doi at them and then Jack Kennedy comes in to double chokeslam Senor Saito. Not sure there was a tag involved but the ref doesn’t really seem to care. Hokuto-Gun load up a tower of doom but Senor Saito hangs on and Kennedy and Cyrus powerbomb Omori instead, this lets Rei come in but Kennedy dropkicks him and now the two junior Saitos go at Cyrus…who crushes them both, lands a double Vader Bomb, and Omori gets a frog splash on Senor Saito for 3.

**

Just sort of a match? It had entertaining parts but just kind of a TV match. Rei vs. Cyrus is always fun at least.

Post-match they poll the crowd and I guess the Saito Brothers win anyway because they’re more popular. Okay then.

Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuma Aoyagi vs. ELPIDA (Ren Ayabe & Ryuki Honda)

Background: The Aoyagis are brothers, with big brother Yuma being a former two-time Triple Crown champ and a rising star and veteran presence all at once, he’s a clever, versatile, and trolling Insidious Fighter, Atsuki is his little brother in all ways, younger and much smaller, Atsuki is a junior and the most traditional one on the roster, even finishing with a 450. Atsuki is also coming off of injury and this is his comeback match. He’s actually missed so much time that the entire babyface structure of the roster has changed, with ELPIDA being the new upstart stable that also includes Atsuki’s old tag-partner Rising HAYATO (though he’s not in this match, obviously). Anyway, ELPIDA here consists of tall, gangly, and developing Ren Ayabe, and stocky and forceful Ryuki Honda. Ren is sort of a calm athlete, while Honda is a boisterous brawler.

The Match: Atsuki and Ryuki start and circle and Honda lets the younger Aoyagi play to the crowd a bit before going in getting a headlock. Honda with a shoulderblock before Atsuki busts out an international and the crowd gets hot as Ryuki bails, we tease a dive and Aoyagi dances for the crowd before Ryuki runs in, playing the ugly ogre to the pretty boy highflyer. Both tag out and we get Yuma and Ren. The elder Aoyagi styles a bit with some front handsprings to not be shown up by his little brother, but Ren gets him in the ropes with a lockup and we do another international…but Ayabe gets a shoulder anyway as they’re really playing up Ren’s size. And it’s Yuma who gets to bail and charge in all angry…and he runs into a body slam by Ayabe. The Aoyagi’s now do a bit of cheating with Yuma dodging to set up Atsuki attacking from the apron, and then we get a double dropkick and a moonsault off the ring post and then the brothers stomp ELPIDA down outside…before getting a whip reversed and they get tossed into each other. More whips follow as ELIPDA dominate on the ringside area. Back inside and we get Ryuki’s five-count choke on the ropes to Atsuki…and then Yuma when he interferes too. The ref eventually shoves Honda down as he just smiles in glee. Ren in and he gives a monster back body drop on Atsuki that Yuma breaks up to eat his OWN monster back body drop. Ryuki is in now to beat down Atsuki and that continues with a chinlock while Ren plays goalie against Yuma running in. Atsuki FINALLY gets the handspring gamengiri and in comes Yuma to land a flying forearm on Ryuki. Diving crossbody follows for 2 and Yuma signals for a finish but Honda gets a desperate spinebuster and brings in Ren who lands his hooking clothesline and a corner kick for 2. Ren follows up with an attempt at his Iron Maiden submission but Yuma makes the ropes, Aoyagi then slips out of the Death Roulette and does some run and gun stuff before eating another corner kick, second Death Roulette attempt and Yuma floats over and goes for a guillotine…and Ayabe counters that with a brainbuster but runs into Yuma’s Rock Bottom and we have a double down. Ryuki and Atsuki have a hockey fight until Atsuki remembers he’s a flippy guy and does some cartwheels into a springboard armdrag. He then goes for a suplex and after a struggle gets three Fisherman’s Suplexes…but whiffs on a moonsault and Ren runs in for a double team and Atsuki foils it with his agility. Yuma revives his little brother and then gets a series of rapid moves on Ryuki and Atsuki finally lands the moonsault…for 2.5. The younger Aoyagi goes up again and Ayabe comes in to toss him off the top…and Yuma comes in to throw strikes at Ayabe but the giant gets a dropkick to send Yuma flying and ELPIDA isolate on Atsuki. Full-nelson slam by Ren sets up a spear by Ryuki, and Yuma BARELY saves his kid brother. Ren and Yuma go tussle and it’s back to Ryuki and Atsuki, Honda loads up the FInal Vent, but Aoyagi slips free and gets a tilt-a-whirl DDT. Atsuki gets two thrust kicks and a tornado kick, but Ryuki gets a lariat, and then a running lariat for 2, and the Final Vent lands and that’s 3.

**½

Kind of weird as this was mostly a showcase for Atsuki and in that role Yuma mostly played himself down. Heel/face alignment was odd as well as it was mostly the Aoyagi brothers getting a beating, but ELPIDA are pure babyfaces so they didn’t cheat outside of Ryuki’s signature choke and that’s basically a babyface move at this point. It was perfectly fine and Atsuki is an interesting element to add back into a decently barren juniors scene but I can’t say he’s my favorite wrestler or anything. Finely fine.

Post-match Ryuki mocks the dancing of the Aoyagi brothers and boogies down and I’m shocked that Ren can keep a straight face.

ELPIDA (Rising HAYATO & Yuma Anzai) (c) vs. Kento Miyahara & Ryo Inoue – All Asia Tag Team Championship

Background: More ELPIDA! As mentioned prior, they are the young upstart babyface stable, they actually have a pretty diverse aesthetic, and these two members only add to that diversity. Rising HAYATO is a tattooed bodybuilding goth pretty boy with a choker and bleached blonde hair and earrings and purple plaid gear, fulfilling some goth role that puro often doesn’t tread into. Yuma is the youngest Triple Crown champion in history and a guy that is walking in the shoes of legendary Jumbo Tsuruta, amateur wrestling standout, just a tall, handsome, well-coiffed prodigy. Their opponents are the ace of the promotion, Kento Miyahara, the Best of the Best, a man who is sometimes the biggest heel and biggest face in a match, half-Shawn Michaels, half-Hulk Hogan, this loud, preening, arrogant, tremendously arrogant, ultimate underdog, his partner is rookie junior Ryo Inoue, who has finally been able to show some of his own personality by growing his hair out, wearing sunglasses, and buying a leather jacket. His Kawada influence is very clear, but he also has borrowed a ton from KENTA too, just this undersized, not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog, yapping, strutting, kick devil who isn’t afraid to tear it up with bigger guys. Kento’s former babyface stable (that included basically all these guys) has disbanded and while he accepted that at the time, Kento has been adding black elements into his traditionally red and gold gear and Ryo is one-step removed from a heel turn as well. The titles they’re fighting over theoretically are the belts that Rikidōzan died holding, and are the secondary tag-titles in All Japan, but with the top belts not being defended due to one half of the champions challenging for the Triple Crown, this feud between former babyface allies turned uneasy rivals gets the second from the top spot. Whew, that’s a lot of history, TLDR: established babyface and his jerk junior friend wrestling the rising babyface star and his sexy goth junior friend.

The Match: Ryo is feeling froggy to start and he wants Yuma, who stars for ELPIDA. They circle a bit and Ryo gets swallowed up by a lockup and we get a clean break and a second lockup goes Yuma’s way before Inoue reverses it in the ropes and…he gets some strikes in the ropes like a jerk and we got a hockey fight, and Ryo immediately goes to the legs with a kick, dodges Anzai’s dropkick, and then a PK and Anzai is like “okay, this guy is maybe more than a little jerk.” Ryo gets greedy going for a single-leg and Yuma reverses that but before ELPIDA can take advantage Inoue squirms free and we get HAYATO in and Kento comes in to face his former partner. Miyahara and HAYATO fight over a wristlock until the youngster uses his athleticism to break free and tag Kento with an overhand chop, some more junior stuff gets Kento to bail and Rising HAYATO gets the fakeout dive into a backflip to set up his taunt…and Ryo takes that as an invite to run in, kick his rival junior and then toss the goth to a waiting Kento. But Kento gets his whip reversed and it’s HAYATO who tosses Miyahara inside for Anzai to stomp on him. But when Anzai rebounds for a strike Ryo trips him up, gets a running apron punt, and then kicks his leg out of his leg, and Kento seizes the opportunity to maul Anzai and wrap his leg up in the ring barricade. Miyahara posts Anzai and loads up his leg for a running dropkick to the kneecap by Ryo. More ring assisted leg torture follows and Ryo tags in to work over Anzai while Kento dogwalks HAYATO ringside. Ryo unleashes his best stuff, with a dragonscrew and a punt to the kneecap followed by Kento choking him from the apron before tagging in. Miyahara just slaps him down and around, and then Yuma snatches Kento for a belly-to-belly and Ryo immediately hops in with a kick to break it up, and then Kento keeps his routine going and gets his comeback (despite being in control) with the low dropkick to the injured leg and then the middle dropkick…and Yuma snatches him out of the air for a belly-to-belly! Hot tag and HAYATO uses the kneeling Kento to get a poetry in motion-esque dropkick to send Ryo flying off the apron. Springboard moonsault press by HAYATO, running bulldog, just a 2 but Kento is selling and HAYATO is gothing up. But Kento lands the low and middle dropkicks and the crowd immediately starts chanting for him despite spending ten minute acting like a total jerk, just incredible. HAYATO and Kento then get into a slap fight before Kento just boots him down and brings in Ryo to unleash a flurry of kicks in the corner but we get a whip and a floatover and HAYATO lands the codebreaker and in comes Anzai who is mostly remembering to wrestling on one leg as he suplexes Ryo around. Ryo wins a standup though but Anzai explodes for a dropkick and then we go back to the slugfest as Yuma’s leg is basically fine now. Ryo obliterates Anzai in the corner with kicks though, and the KENTA comparisons are uh…hard to ignore. Miyahara tries to interfere and gets whooped by a double dropkick though. HAYATO now tags in and ELPIDA do more of their routine with them finishing a sequence with a double bulldog and now it’s back to Ryo and Yuma…and Inoue basically immediately thwarts Anzai’s offense by dodging the dropkick and going for his own suplex, but that gets foiled and Yuma gets the dropkick again and it’s Anzai’s turn to be disrespectful to a youngster as he kicks the 22 year old around as Ryo finally gets his comeuppance of sorts, Anzai dominates him with power strikes and beats him into the corner before loading up a superplex. Ryo fights it off, but Yuma get a pop-up knee and then lands the double-arm superplex…but Inoue just pops up with a gamengiri and everybody hits everybody with stuff until Yuma gets up and now he’s selling the leg again, and Ryo takes this chance to pounce with a roll-through calfslicer And Yuma is actually selling huge and teasing tapping before he finally makes the ropes. Ryo smells blood and goes for the buzzsaw kick but Yuma ducks, and tosses Inoue into HAYATO for a wheelbarrow driver, and Kento them runs in, basically does nothing and eats a Falcon Arrow, Yuma gets a jumping knee on Ryo for 2. Anzai loads up the Gimlet, but Ryo slips out and Kento FINALLY does something with a Blackout knee on Anzai and Miyahara celebrates huge as he tells Inoue to go for the kill and the kid lands the buzzsaw kick…for 2.8. Ryo gets his leg-hook bridging back suplex but HAYATO breaks it up as Kento screws up running interference, undeterred, Ryo goes for a fireman’s carry something but Yuma slips out to set up ELPIDA hitting a German suplex (Yuma)/springboard dropkick (HAYATO) combo for a close 2. HAYATO gets a plancha on Kento and Yuma gets a jumping knee…for 1, and Ryo just flies up with a flurry of strikes (and a closed fist punch) but gets wiped out by another jumping knee and Anzai’s Gimlet gets 3.

***

So, I really, really liked the Yuma vs. Ryo thing, where basically still effectively a rookie Yuma Anzai played the Jumbo to Ryo’s scrappy youngster. Inoue having a gameplan for the bigger, stronger, more accomplished wrestler, and Ryo has come into his own (even if it’s not original) as the bigger than his size, feisty, kick devil. Yuma, well, I still remain bothered by his shaky selling especially with injury stuff, but he had moments where he looked overmatched by Inoue and that did matter. HAYATO was competent, but the big shock was Kento and mostly in how much of a fool he played this match. He got styled on by basically everybody, barely, if ever, looked like he was in control, and mostly always flubbed his interference spots. An interesting dynamic for the biggest star in AJPW as he doesn’t necessarily fall down the card, but his role transitions. I really did like this match and it set up some interesting singles down the line, but it is weird how little double teams seem to matter in AJPW tags. Like unless it’s the finish, and it rarely is, guys hit a double team move and then they just go back to trading offense.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) vs. Jun Saito – Triple Crown Championship

Background: So this is an odd one. Davey is obviously the son of Davey Boy Smith, and like his dad he’s a big, muscled up guy with some technical chops, he’s even bigger than his dad, being billed as 6’5”, just a large, rawboned man who finally got his hands on a world title. I’m uh, not a huge fan but here he is as champion in his first defense due to the last tour being the tag league, and speaking of the tag league, here is the winner of that one with his brother, Jun Saito. Reigning World Tag Team Champions, reigning World’s Strongest Tag Determination League champion, Jun Saito. A relative rookie despite being in his late 30s, he’s a former sumo guy that broke out in the Voodoo Murders stable of cheating violent dirtbags, but after they disbanded it was just the Saito Brothers. He’s the power guy of the duo, the most ‘technical’ and precise, though he mostly favors overwhelming, straightforward violence. He’s not a guy full of tricks, and despite his heelish presentation he is pretty over cause he’s y’know, just kinda cool! So you have the big gaijin monster vs the big native monster. We’re getting a monster mash here.

The Match: We get the clash of titans lockup with both guys struggling for position and Davey winning and giving the clean break. A second lockup goes Jun’s way and he gives a clean break (though more reluctantly). Evenly matched we get a headlock by Davey. The Canadian gets the takeover and then the headscissors by Jun and Smith kips up, props to Jun adjusting his neck while staring down Davey before Saito gets the headlock and Davey fights it. Shoulderblocks are no sold by both and Jun gets a slam before Davey reverses that into an armbar. Jun gets the ropes and powders and Davey follows to whomp on Jun outside while Saito just tries to get space. Saito finally gets a boot up to gain control and whips Davey around the ringside area, with the funniest place being right in front of Rei doing commentary, who just smiles. Jun tosses Davey Boy back in and goes up top to capitalize…but the Canadian catches him and tosses Jun off the top and then goes to work on the legs and lower body of the challenger. And then Davey switches to a seated armbar (?) and works over Jun’s arm with basic stuff. We get some double-arm stretches and such and Jun is actually doing an admirable job selling his butt off and finally Saito makes the ropes but we reset to a strikefest and Davey Boy drops him with a ‘flying’ forearm and back to the arm we go. Another ropebreak and Davey Boy gets some precise strikes to take down the challenger, but Jun picks up with some running stuff, a few big boots drop the Canuck, a running elbow keeps him down, and then Jun UNLEASHES THE HAIR! Biggest pop of the match so far before Jun gets a goozle. Davey breaks it and a second attempt is turned into a powerslam. They duke it out and when Jun starts to get something going with chops Davey gets a few headbutts to shut that down, Jun gets into open space again and goes for a spear…and Davey stuffs it. Jun goes for a chokeslam, and Davey stuffs it and turns that into a German suplex…and Jun now pops up with the Bomaye to the back of the head and now they fight over a suplex, Smith obviously wins that and we get a scoop lift into an inverted DDT and then he loads up a superplex. Jun fights that off but falls victim to a running powerslam for 2. DBSJ then loads up the powerbomb but Jun fights out with headbutts and gets a Jackhammer for 2.7. Jun stalks his opponent and goes for the Psycho Break but Davey rolls through and gets the Backdrop Driver for 2.9. Jun is totally punch drunk and Smith goes for the powerbomb but Jun blocks it, so we get Davey beating him a few times times before going for it again…and this one Jun backdrops out of and sucks breath and limps towards his opponent, spinning lariat by Jun, jumping knee by Davey, Bomaye by Saito! 2.5 for that. PSYCHO BREAK!!!! For 2. A second Psycho Break is attempted but Davey busts out of it and they trade shoulders before the Canadian gets a lariat for 2. The powerbomb finally lands for Davey for 2.9 and his shocked kickout face is cartoonishly bad. Davey goes back to the well and Jun goes up…but lands on his feet and gets a big boot and then an absolutely terrible spear gets 2.2. Psycho Break gets 3 and…wait what?

*½

Wow. This…was not good at all. Basically nothing worked. The clash of titans setup was nullified by Jun selling like mad for most of the match (which he did well), but the actual offensive flurry was awkward and none of the early happenings paid off later on. The armwork? Forgotten. Davey’s physical superiority? Forgotten. Far be it me to praise the need for big moves, but if there was ever a time to debut a new finish that Davey hadn’t scouted, to further the idea that Jun has a deeper kit than Davey, if not greater tools, it’d be the match you win the world title in. Well at least Davey isn’t the champion anymore. But yeah, * for the terrible quality, ½ for Jun’s selling, he’s gotten quite good at that. Do not watch this.

Overall this was not a very good show, but on the other hand, it had some pretty bad matches. Still, it was a big house, it’s setting up some future stuff, there’s reasons to be optimistic despite this not being a show I would recommend to anybody seeking to get into All Japan. I swear Jun Saito is actually good y’all.