All Japan Pro Wrestling: Dream Power Series March 9th 2025

Well here we are in Korakuen Hall and we have a pretty dang big show here with multiple title matches as All Japan is building up all they can before the Champion Carnival. Thirteen hundred plus in the crowd and we’re off in the awkward, uncomfortable, herky-jerk nature All Japan has made their standard.

Yuko Miyamoto (c) vs. Naruki Doi – GAORA TV Championship

Background: In the battle of the crusty veteran good hand types, we have ex-deathmatch daredevil Yuko Miyamoto versus ex-cruiser bodybuilder Naruki Doi. No real heat between Doi’s Saito Brothers stable and Yuko’s Baka no Jidai group other than general competition. Yuko is in some truly hideous two-tone gray and yellow pants here.

The Match: Yuko gets cheered and Doi just looks irritated and they milk some crowd before locking up. Yuko backs up Naruki but Doi reverses and gives a clean break. Second lockup and a clean break from Yuko this time and then they trade chops before Miyamoto cranks in a headlock and we get an international into a flying headscissors to send Doi outside, but when Yuko loads up a dive Doi flies in to take out the leg with a kick. Mr. Saito works the leg and then cranks in a figure-four leglock in the middle of the ring. Yuko reverses the hold and then Doi re-reverses…unreverses? And they work that a few times as both scream and shake their heads in determination. Yuko finally makes the ropes and instead of capitalizing on it, Doi actually stretches out his own knees as they received damage as well. We get some charging and a floatover into Doi trappling Yuko in the corner and hitting a dragonscrew out of the turnbuckles to keep the pressure on the champ’s knee. Yuko finally gets space with a big belly-to-belly suplex out of a kick wham attempt by Doi. Yuko with a strike flurry as his legs seem fine now and then a…cross-legged neck crank headscissors thing follows. Interesting hold but Doi breaks by going for a rollup. Another chop off into a forearm battle but Doi almost runs into a fireman’s carry before slipping out and getting lariated down instead. But when Yuko attempts to follow up with a standing moonsault Doi slips away and Yuko lands on his knees! Another figure-four attempt by Doi but Yuko gets an inside cradle for 2.6. Doi follows with the fireman’s carry facebuster but when he comes in for the sliding kick Yuko gets ANOTHER lariat for a double-down. Doi goes to the top rope, Yuko cuts him off, they fight up there before Naruki goes to the eyes and hits a sunset flip powerbomb for 2.8. Fireman’s carry facebuster and the sliding kick land and that’s a 2.99 and Doi is flabbergasted. Doi runs the ropes and Yuko gets a frankensteiner…but Doi rolls through for a 2 count, Yuko fires back with a somato…but Doi rolls through for a 2 count. Yuko breaks free with a handspring off the ropes but Doi gets the sliding kick to cut it off. Fireman’s carry again but Yuko turns it into a powerbomb and we get a Last Ride (called as such by commentary)…for 2.8. Miyamoto gets the top-rope moonsault though and that’s 3.

*¾

Just Yuko refusing to sell the leg is absolutely ridiculous to me and takes me out of everything else. Also way too many kickouts, I guess if Yuko had a gold medal I would call this match great, but he doesn’t so I won’t.

Seiki Yoshioka & Shuji Kondo vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Taishin Nagao

Background: Seiki is a very jacked junior, Shuji is a DG veteran who is oversized for a junior. They’re facing flashy and acrobatic Atsuki Aoyagi and rising rookie Taishin Nagao. So it’s vets vs. rookies in a way, but also outsider Seiki and Shuji versus insider Atsuki and Nagao…oh and I guess Seiki and Shuji have the size/body advantage as well. Three dynamics here. Seiki is in dark gray tights here, Shuji is in his blue and gold trunks with tassels, Aoyagi in in his blue split-side shorts, and Nagao is in plain green trunks.

The Match: Taishin and Kondo start and the rookie flies in all aggro at the big guy. But Shuji shrugs off the offense and then they run an international where Kondo absorbs a dropkick. Atsuki flies in so him and Nagao can just bludgeon Shuji…but Kondo dodges the double dropkick and Nagao is our rookie-in-peril as Seiki comes in to do some methodical work. Measured knee strike, precise stomp to the head, snapmare into a PK. Yoshioka stomps in the corner, hits a body slam for 2, and then brings in Shuji to just make bemused faces as he eggs the rookie on. Taishin hits some ineffective forearms before Shuji takes him down and hits a running double stomp and Seiki comes in for a shoot kick. Nagao evades a backdrop but takes his shots at Seiki instead of going for the tag and he whiffs another dropkick…but he goes up and gets a missile dropkick and now he tags in Aoyagi! Running corner attack! Handspring evasion! Springboard armdrag! Dropkick drops Shuji this time…but Seiki comes in for the double-team but Atsuki evades his bigger opponents. Enzuigiri to Shuji, handspring kick to Seiki! Fisherman’s buster attempt on Shuji…but the big guy blocks and tries his own brainbuster…and Atsuki floats over into a German suplex position, but YOU CAN’T GERMAN SUPLEX SHUJI KONDO! And he gets the standing Iconoclasm on Atsuki. Seiki tags in and he turns on the turbo, step-up corner knee, gamengiri, PK! Aoyagi fires back with forearms and then Seiki runs into a 540 kick and we have a hot-tag to Taishin. Seiki shrugs off some dropkicks but he whips Seiki off the ropes for a rebound dropkick and in comes Atsuki for some double-teams as they get the double dropkick on Seiki and then finally land it on Shuji. Stereo pescados follow and the youngsters taunt simultaneously. Seiki is rolled back in and Taishin goes for a springboard dropkick he ALMOST whiffs but he recovers mid-air to get a sorta kung fu movie-esque jump kick that looked pretty cool. Bridging Northern Lights by the rookie follows for 2.6 and Nagao then goes for a brainbuster that Seiki reverses…but Nagao reverses that into a small package! 2.6! Schoolboy by the kid follows, 2.7! Taishin kinda doesn’t know what to do anymore so he peppers his opponent with forearms, blocks a kick and hits a pretty heavy right that staggers Seiki, but the vet has finally had enough, kick to the gut, scissor kick, 1-2-Atsuki flies in to break it up. Shuji drags Atsuki out and Seiki busts out the Crash Driver and that’s an academic 3.

**½

Two small rookies get brutalized by their bigger veteran opponents, they sold well, very simple one-potato, two-potato stuff but it was done well and Nagao actually was elevated a bit as Seiki had to break out a Real Finisher to finish him off.

MAZADA, TAKEDA & YOSHIDA vs. Hokuto-Gun (Hokuto Omori, Jack Kennedy & Kuma Arashi)

Background: So Hokuto-Gun is Omori’s army of big monsters, today the monsters are bear-enthusiast Kuma Arashi, and sad white guy Jack Kennedy, weirdly Omori has dropped his Nobuhiko Takada cosplay today for a suit with no tie, sunglasses, and a clipboard. Their opponents are crusty veteran MAZADA (who usually works shows in his masked Senor Saito gimmick), death match legend Masashi Takeda (going by TAKEDA cause Japan) and former Dragon Gate wrestler Cyber Kong in his death match persona Takashi Yoshida I guess. So a bunch of crusty, ugly looking freaky guys with weapons versus a handful of monster guys and their corporate boss. Japan is amazing sometimes.

The Match: Before the match we have Omori cut a promo that seems to be comedic in nature as the crowd is laughing at his lines. I think he was trying to get out of the match cause everybody else stomps Omori down, rips off his suit and whips him with it. We finally get to the actual match with TAKEDA and Kuma starting, and Takeda’s body is just a disgusting mess of scar tissue. Kuma gets the lockup, backs TAKEDA into the ropes, and gives a clean break before doing his howl taunt. We get some headlocks and wristlocks as this has been VERY measured so far. Takeda gets a low dropkick and then he pulls out the scissors as the ref interferes and Kuma goes running. MAZADA tags in against Jack Kennedy. The gaijin gets a shoulderblock and MAZADA powders. Kennedy follows outside but runs into a post as MAZADA tries to tries to get him with some weapon but misses. Back inside and a body slam sets up an elbow drop. Omori finally tags in but he’s still woozy from the beating and he holds up MAZADA for a charge from Jack…and of course they flub it and Omori gets taken out. YOSHIDA tags in now to get a body slam as this pace has been uh…deliberate. YOSHIDA gets an eye gouge then an eye rake on the rope and brings in MAZADA to knee Omori in the testicles. TAKEDA in to actually do some wrestling moves with an international into a shoulder and a running leg drop. Quick tags continue as MAZADA comes back but Omori gets his feet up on a charge and almost makes the tag…and with an enzuigiri Hokuto finally tags in and body slams everybody and howls. MAZADA goes to the eyes to slow down Kuma and TAKEDA comes in with a dropkick and a running corner knee. The death match man signals for the end and calls for an…exploder? But Kuma breaks it, gets a standing dropkick (?!) and in comes Jack Kennedy to hit bad chops and then a blockbuster slam for a 2 count. Alabama Slam attempt by Jack that’s blocked and a followup lariat is cut off with a knee. More knees from TAKEDA but Jack finally gets a lariat and we have a double-down to a double-tag. YOSHIDA and Hokuto in and Omori gets murdered with a throat thrust into a gamengiri, YOSHIDA follows with a powerbomb attempt that Hokuto backdrops out of and it’s all breaking down as Hokuto-Gun run in to triple team YOSHIDA with corner charges. They then setup the ex-DG guy on the top rope and Omori goes for a superplex with Jack and Kuma helping him…but YOSHIDA’ blocks it and Omori gets powerbombed by his own team. Now it’s Omori’s turn to be triple teamed and TAKEDA sets him up for an assisted superplex and this one actually works. MAZADA gets a legseep DDT on Hokuto, but Kuma takes him out with a crossbody, TAKEDA knees Kuma and then gets an ura-nage on Omori before Jack boots him down. Now YOSHIDA comes in to spam throat thrusts on Kennedy and Omori and then gets the Pineapple Bomber lariat on Omori for 3.

**

Man I guess this match was better than I thought it was going to be at least. Still nothing great, but it was just a silly six-man tag with some bad comedy and some good comedy. Nobody really screwed anything up. Sometimes it’s just a match.

Post-match Omori continues to talk…and then offers YOSHIDA a t-shirt and now the former Cyber Kong is in Hokuto-Gun? Eh he seems fun.

Dan Tamura, Hideki Suzuki, Ryo Inoue & Shotaro Ashino vs. ELPIDA (Ren Ayabe, Rising HAYATO, Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai) – Number One Contendership for the All Asia Tag Team Championship

Background: Okay I’m just reading the stipulation, I’m unsure how this is supposed to work since HAYATO and Yuma are the champs right now and it’s an 8 man tag. Anyway, ELPIDA are the boyband-esque young rising stable of hot young studs. Yuma is their clean-cut tall, handsome wrestling prodigy leader. Ren is the tallest man in the company and has an aloof detachment to him. HAYATO is a tatted-up bodybuilder junior goth pretty boy. And Ryuki is a wildman brawler, chunky with red hair he has the most heelish mannerisms to him but the crowd loves his energy and never say die attitude. They’re facing two Baka no Jidai members in surly junior brawler Dan Tamura, large veteran shoot-fighter guy, Hideki Suzuki, and then cocky young punk Ryo Inoue, and burly suplex machine Shotaro Ashino.

The Match: And we have a hot start as the non-ELPIDA team jumps ELPIDA and brawl outside the ring. We finally start the match proper with Ryo batting above his weight by blasting Yuma with forearms and the two youngsters duke it out. Ryo breaks out the kicks but Yuma grabs him…but Hideki breaks that up and everybody tees off on Yuma for a bit before an Inoue buzzsaw kick gets 2.7. Inoue tags in SHotaro and boots Ryuki off the apron while Shotaro hits a big gutwrench suplex. Ashino follows with some uppercuts but Yuma snatches him into a belly-to-belly out of a charge and in comes Ryuki! Honda goes for his rope-choke on Shotaro but Kyohei Wada (senior referee, and I mean senior, he was reffing in the 70s) is so distracted by stuff on the apron he doesn’t notice Honda’s choke…and Ryuki gets irked his cheating isn’t being appreciated so he gets in Wada’s face over it. And when Wada finally does it’s such a lazy count that irks Honda too. Amusing sequence there. Ryuki follows with a spinebuster for 2, but his lariat is ducked and Shotaro gets a backdrop suplex and brings in Ryo to pepper Ryuki with kicks and then a delayed corner dropkick. Ryo’s PK gets blocked though and Honda lariats down the junior and that lets HAYATO run in to hit a poetry in motion off of Inoue’s back, then a high elbow in motion lets HAYATO get a pescado on the opposing team. HAYATO springboards back in but Ryo dodges and then drops the goth with a 540 and in comes Tamura to just brutalize Rising. Corner avalanche, brainbuster, but HAYATO gets a punch-drunk comeback as they slug it out for a little bit, HAYATO gets a sloppy dropkick against the ropes and then a pair of thrust kicks before Tamura drops him with a lariat and we have a double-down. Double-tag and it’s Yuma and Hideki with Anzai getting the Jumbo knee, corner forearm, and a big suplex out of the ropes on Suzuki. Yuma goes for Hideki’s signature suplex, a butterfly, and after one block, Suzuki gets tossed with it…but immediately no-sells and goes for his own double-arm suplex…and Ren just comes in to boot everybody down as it’s breaking loose in Tokyo! Shotaro manages to land on his feet on a Death Roulette attempt but Ayabe just drops him with the full-nelson slam instead. Double clothesline on Hideki and Shotaro, but Suzuki lowbridges him and it’s back to him and Yuma. Jumbo knee gets 2.8 and Anzai sets up a German while HAYATO teases a springboard but Tamura takes out the blonde junior and Suzuki gut shots Anzai and just tears apart the legs with ugly strikes and just slamming it against the ground. Half-crab but Anzai makes the ropes. HAYATO comes in, but Tamura cuts that off and Hideki cranks in the crab again while Dan powerbombs the religion out of HAYATO…and Yuma with no help and nowhere to go taps out.

**¾

Effective story even if the stipulation kinda gave the result away. But these guys know what they’re doing and even if I don’t like Hideki, he does need to win and brutalize guys some of the time.

And post-match Tamura slaps Hideki and Hideki responds as they continue that uh…gag I guess. Baka no Jidai versus ELPIDA for the All Asia belts down the line.

MUSASHI (c) vs. Seigo Tachibana – AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship

Background: So MUSASHI is a very straight-laced, conventional babyface veteran junior, he’s wrestling Seigo who is mostly a comedy goof with a fake-yakuza gimmick (or maybe ‘gimmick’) who has shown his teeth in prior feuds with Fuminori Abe. So it’s a silly guy who has shown he has a killer instinct versus a pretty stoic, plain jane babyface champ. Seigo is in the red pants with the blazer while MUSASHI has the silver and white woodblock style tights.

The Match: Standing grappling as they trade wristlocks and then a headlock takeover/headscissors standstill. MUSASHI with another headlock and a shoulderblock but Seigo does his squatting taunt and dare I say MUSASHI is heeling it up a bit by going to the hair to slam Seigo down after an atomic drop. An eye rake with the boots follows as MUSASHI does his OWN taunt. Guess he’s going Bret Hart-heel here. Low-bridge sets up a dive attempt but MUSASHI evades it and Seigo taunts again. MUSASHI eyeballs him from outside and Seigo opens up the ropes to let MUSASHI get in…and then Seigo kicks the ropes right when MUSASHI is stepping over then and attacks the champ on the apron. Exploder attempt by MUSASHI is blocked by Seigo’s 12-6 elbows but MUSASHI sets up a piledriver anyway…and Seigo reverses that into a B-Driver and we tease a countout. MUSASHI eventually rolls back in and Seigo gets 4 quick 2 counts. Delayed neckbreaker by Seigo follows and then a chinlock, when MUSASHI breaks we get a northern lariat for another 2 count as Seigo is keying in on the neck of the champ. MUSASHI fires back by catching himself on a rebound and then getting a flying headscissors and a running chop. MUSASHI clutches his neck in the corner and then evades a Seigo charge with some fancy stuff in the corner and then slingshots in for a stomp to the challenger’s back. Low dropkick by MUSASHI sets up another dropkick as he’s staying mobile. They trade some standing switches and evasions before Seigo gets an inverted atomic drop into a boot to the face and goes back to the chinlock. We do a chokeout tease with the arm drops before MUSASHI fires up and gets his foot on the ropes. Seigo back with the brawling but MUSASHI guts up and gets the exploder to send Seigo out of the ring and the champ goes for the dive…only to have Tachibana fly in with an inverted atomic drop, toss MUSASHI, and hit his own flipping plancha. Spear by Seigo! Angle Slam! But MUSASHI pops up with an enzuigiri and a brainbuster and we got a double-down. Both make their way back and we have the extended slugfest with them building tempo as they blast each other in the face. MUSASHI finally, FINALLY powers up and just drops Seigo with a serious of hard forearms and gets another brainbuster for 2. The champ signals to finish and goes up with a frog splash for 2.8. Undaunted MUSASHI goes for the Emerald Flowsion out of the corner, but Seigo slips out and gets a German and then a rolling elbow, but MUSASHI does the fighting spirit no sell with his OWN German…which obviously sets up Seigo to pop up with a massive lariat and then another B-Driver for a 2.99 count. I bit on that nearfall. Seigo goes for the running elbow drop to the neck but MUSASHI drops back, thrust kick! German attempt, Seigo attempts a German, Seigo goes for a Rainmaker but MUSASHI turns that into an X-Plex for 2.7. Goes up, another frog splash with a forearm across the face, 2.7. Emerald Flowsion out of the corner and that’s 3 for the champ.

**¼

Like…2-3 big kickouts too many for me and the face/heel dynamic was dodgy. I get both guys are faces but MUSASHI started out being a jerk cutting off Seigo’s stuff and then they had an extended bit where Tachibana worked MUSASHI’s neck (which he didn’t really sell). I liked the energy of the final sequence but it would have worked better if it wasn’t preceded by way too much stuff. I do remain impressed with Seigo when he does work as just a small heavy-hitting brawler at least. Honestly I think that MUSASHI just doesn’t have the presence for this role, I don’t really know what he is as a character or a wrestler other than “does some stuff.”

Post-match Seiki (MUSASHI’s regular tag partner) comes down and I guess now we have the Seiki/MUSASHI explodes match?

Saito Brothers (Jun Saito & Rei Saito) (c) vs. Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi – AJPW World Tag Team Championship

Background: Saito Brothers are the unbeatable tag-team champions, not having been defeated in a tag in over a year at this point, and Jun also holding the Triple Crown championship as well, they’re rookies but also turning into crossover stars with TV show appearances, and even a pop song (yes I’m serious). Kento is still the ace of the promotion though it’s looking like he might be on the other side of his run as younger, newer acts keep popping up. He’s won the belts with Yuma before and with other people as well (in fact both have) and they have a ton of experience as a team with a sort of MegaPowers dynamic (Kento as the bombastic unpinnable brawler filled with a hero’s determination and Yuma being a cooler, more calculating, more ‘skilled’ wrestler who can do it all in the ring). This is a big match as long-term rivals once again face off against each other, all of them being top-level world champion level contenders as well (with only Rei not having held the belt).

The Match: Kento and Jun start and Miyahara IMMEDIATELY starts playing to the crowd and gets a massive chant. Big lockup and Jun easily wins but gives the clean break…with a taunt. Lockup again and Jun turns it into a headlock and they run an international with Kento getting a boot and then a headlock of his own that Jun breaks. Standstill and we get the tag as Yuma and Rei enter…and Rei immediately destroys Yuma with a lockup and teases giving a clean break before throwing a chop that Aoyagi ducks. A few shoulderblocks follow and Rei obviously wins that one too and in comes Jun to throw some knees to the gut, but Yuma gets a drop toehold on the champ and Kento flies in with a dropkick on the apron and then tags in to beat on Jun outside with a series of headbutts. And out in the crowd Rei and Yuma brawl…and Yuma reaches for a Saito Brothers cheer towel that a fan won’t let go of, so Rei beats down Yuma and THEN the fan hands over the towel to choke Yuma with. Ha! Both Saitos are in full control here as they brutalize the challengers and even pick them up in a scoop slam position and then charge Yuma and Kento into each other. More cheer towel assisted choking and barricade assisted stomping as the champs are putting on a clinic. Jun holds Yuma and Kento against the ringpost to set up Rei for a running body avalanche into both of them. Finally back inside and the Saitos take turns teeing off on Kento in the corner with body shots and avalanches. Simple, mean, nasty stuff. Jun gets a body slam and running elbow and then steps on Kento’s chest before UNLEASHING THE HAIR! Yuma doesn’t take kindly to the taunt as he threatens Jun with a closed fist on the apron. Rei back in and uses the ropes to assist him stomping on Kento…and then with the referee distracted by Yuma begging to get in, Jun comes in to help step on Kento. Beautiful. Jun tags in properly now and gets a delayed brainbuster on Kento who is just selling like crazy here. Jun goes for the chokeslam, Kento floats over and finally gets an offensive move with a big boot and in comes Yuma! Running dropkick to Jun! Forearm to Rei to take him off the apron, forearm to Jun in the corner and ANOTHER elbow to Rei to knock him off the apron again. Yuma’s brainbuster is blocked but he gets a dropdown into another dropkick for 2. Yuma steals Jun’s taunt and goes for the brainbuster again and gets blocked but floats over and throws some strikes…before Jun gets a desperate shoulderblock to stop Aoyagi’s flurry. Rei tags in and he gets the licked hand chop in the corner before just unleashing the shrieks and blasting Yuma with machine gun chops. A shoulderblock afterwards gets 2 for Rei and the Saito unleashes torture with short-arm chops, and then Rei breaks out a standing sleeper (?!) and takes Yuma down before Kento breaks that up with a boot. Jun takes out Kento and Yuma is laying dead in the middle of the ring as Rei preens and taunts and then goes for a standing powerbomb…that Yuma sunset flips out of for 2. Aoyagi with some flying corner forearms but Rei squashes him with a body avalanche again and goes for the brainbuster, but now it’s Rei’s turn to get countered and Yuma guts up and gets his own brainbuster. Double-tag and Kento unleashes the comeback sequence with the low and middle dropkicks and a taunt as Jun is getting rocked. Yuma goes in for a double-team but Jun double lariats them down and that lets Rei come in. The Saitos whip each other at Miyahara in the corner and then get a huge double hiptoss that Yuma breaks up. Rei tosses the Insidious Fighter and follows him to the floor as Jun and Kento go 1v1 again. The champ gets a series of Yakuza kicks for 2. Rei comes in again and picks up Kento for an electric chair as Jun goes up, the Doomsday Device is blocked though when Kento slips out the back, shoves Rei into Jun and goes for a superplex…that gets shoved down. But Yuma flies in to dropkick Jun on the top rope and Aoyagi finishes the superplex. Kento is still woozy and Yuma has to fire up the crowd as he pulls his partner to his feet. And Kento revives enough to hit the Blackout/Spinkick combo on Jun for 2.7. Yuma blocks Rei from interfering as Kento goes for the Shutdown German…but Jun is too strong and breaks Kento’s grip, blocks a lariat with a boot, and gets a bodyshot, a goozle slap, and then the Kinshasa…before Kento explodes for a lariat. Rei and Yuma then fly in, Aoyagi gets a leaping forearm but Rei bursts through for a running crossbody and we have a quadruple down. We eventually reset to Kento and Jun…but Miyahara charges into a chokeslam for 2.9. Jun goes for the Shouten Kai next but Kento turns that into a small package for 2. A rope-running sequence ends in a Jun spear and Jackhammer for 2.8. Psycho Break by Jun is armdragged out of and Miyahara gets a Blackout knee and Yuma flies into the ring to get a Rockstar Buster and begs Kento to pin Jun, Miyahara gets another Blackout and a 2.9 count as Rei is still blocked from breaking it up. Kento follows with the Shutdown German, clasps the arms, lifts Jun…and the champ breaks free and now it’s time for Rei to go wild. Goozle slap on Kento, Miyahara fires up, second goozle slap sets up a Jun lariat for 2. And then Jun does the hair flip, and calls for the end, Shouten Kai attempt number 2 but Kento slips out, Psycho Break attempt number 2 but Kento gets a standing switch and we get Shutdown German attempt number 3 but Jun breaks it again. Kento ducks Rei’s Pig Knuckle attempt though and hits the turnbuckle. Yuma takes this chance to dropkick Rei in the back and they both roll out out of the ring and it’s back to Kento and Jun. Jun gets an overhand chop, but runs into ANOTHER Blackout, and we get Shutdown German Suplex attempt number 4 and this one finally lands, 1-2-3 and we have new champs.

****½

Well that absolutely ripped. Fantastic, fantastic tag-match giving us everything we’d have wanted. Kento selling his butt off and firing back at the end with his heroic comebacks, Yuma being smart and clever and funny and finding ways to run interference and stymie his physically superior opponents. Meanwhile the Saitos do what they do, have credible, entertaining offense and the presence to credibly beat the tar out of their opponents and amuse a crowd in the process. Two big monsters that know their role and know when it’s time to leave their feet on bumps. It’s amazing that the Saitos were so rough less than 3 years ago and now can credibly be considered the best tag-team in the world. As far as the booking, while I did enjoy the Saitos with ALL THE BELTS at some point it’s difficult to run a double-champion situation and now there are credible reasons for Rei to have beef with Jun for stretching himself too thin. The Champion Carnival is coming up and we’ve got to get all the ducks in a row, so to speak.

Post-match Kento has some words with Jun and I could imagine that’s going to be the next direction as far as a title defense is concerned for the Triple Crown. Kento and Yuma celebrate and the crowd is all very hyped.

Overall while this is mostly a one match show, what a match it was!