All Japan Pro Wrestling: World’s Strongest Tag Determination League 2025 December 7th

Welcome back as we have over 600 in Nagaoya’s Port Messe 2nd Exhibition Hall…and man Japan has a lot of these exhibition halls. This is the last show before the finals and all the block matches will be done here.

Atsuki Aoyagi, Ryo Inoue & Shota Kofuji vs. Hokuto-gun (Jack Kennedy & Takashi) & Hiroki Murase

Background: So Atsuki is one half of the All-Asia champs, Ryo is a guy who is still basically a pushover rookie but has at least real gear and a personality now, Shota is the current young boy, they’re facing Hokuto-Gun’s gooniest members in lumbering gaijin Jack Kennedy and lumbering veteran Takashi, and with them is Hiroki Murase, who from what I gather was part of some All Japan stables in the past (Purple Haze with Zeus!) but hasn’t worked much recently, he does seem heavyweight sized and is, and this is the weirdest part, seems to be…dressed like Cody Rhodes? Well…huh, he has a jacket with epaulets and a red, white, and blue color scheme.

The Match: So apparently this show is Atsuki Aoyagi’s birthday, and the crowd sings for him before the match, how sweet. Shota and Hiroki start and we get some basic standing grappling wristlock/hammerlock/standing switch stuff before Murase gets a headlock into a takeover sequence before Hiroki sends Shota down with a dropkick and Takashi is apparently cracking up the crowd at ringside with his banter. We get Shota tagging in Atsuki, and then Takashi DEMANDS a tag and Hiroki obliges. Takashi and Aoyagi lock up, Atsuki goes into the ropes, clean break teased…and Takashi immediately does a throat thrust, he misses the snot rocket though and Atsuki gets a flying headscissors, poses a bit, and this lets Takashi recover and deliver his snot attack while shouting “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Aoyagi takes a long time to recover so Takashi sends him into the heel corner and tags in Jack Kennedy, who hits a shoulder for 2 and then some corner chops. Hiroki tags in for more chops and a dropkick for 2. Takashi back in and he attacks the birthday boy’s nose as Takashi is constantly jawing with the fans. We get a few running throat thrusts buckle to buckle before Takashi whiffs and Aoyagi gets a handspring kick and tags in Shota. The young boy gets a few running clotheslines to little effect before he goes for a whip…that Takashi just refuses to go off the ropes before, so Atsuki tags in with a double they finally propel Takashi off the ropes…only for him to hit a double clothesline and tag in Kennedy. More chops from the American but Kofuji gets his boots up in the corner, rolling dropkick and a tag to Ryo who beats on the big guy with kicks in the corner but eats an avalanche from Kennedy, a throat thrust from Takashi, and a missile dropkick into a back suplex from Murase. Kennedy covers and the faces break it up, only to eat a flurry of throat thrusts from Takashi and a jump kick before Kennedy gets another 2 count on Ryo. Jack goes for a fireman’s carry but a Shota missile dropkick into Atsuki’s 540 sets up an Inoue chest kick before it all breaks down in Nagoya! Well kinda breaks down, it’s back to Ryo and Jack and Inoue tears the guy apart with kicks before a buzzsaw gets 2.5, a sorta running roundhouse kick gets 3 though.

*¼

So other than Takashi’s antics (which I enjoy) this was two pretty boring stiffs in Hiroki and Jack doing pretty whatever heeling against three babyfaces that I imagine where more interested in where they were going to be celebrating Atsuki’s birthday that night. Ryo tried a little bit but I imagine cause this is his first pinfall over a ‘heavyweight’ I think he’s ever had.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Kento Miyahara vs. Jun Saito & Yuma Anzai

Background: So this was SUPPOSED To be DBSJ and Kento vs. Double Yuma, but y’know the thing happened but I still think they have some specific booking plans here and also they’re not to skimp out on a showcase Kento matchup (and of course the fans dig Davey, Jun, and Anzai as well). So while the stakes are assuredly lower (I STRONGLY suspect that the elseworlds match would have main-evented the show and been for the block). There’s of course a ton of history here, Kento beat Jun for the TC, Jun beat Davey, Davey beat Aoyagi…and Aoyagi beat Anzai, so the five people ‘involved’ in this matchup are basically the last two years worth of world champions.

The Match: Yuma and Jun bicker off who is going to start for them and Saito relents so it’s Kento and Anzai with the staredown and crowd chanting before they make contact and the big main-event lockup. Kento wins and gives a very reluctant break in the ropes. Some standing grappling next with Anzai getting the advantage with a wristlock before Miyahara turns that into a takedown and they do some mat work before they return to their feet and Anzai gets Kento in the ropes and fakes out a clean break before clocking the champ and cranking in a headlock, Kento finally shoves off, gets Yuma with a drop toehold, but misses a kick on the apron so Anzai knocks Kento ringside while Jun blasts a distracted DBSJ off the corner. Everybody brawls and gets whipped into various barricades until Anzai gets caught by Kento and dropped throat first on the steel and Davey stomps him out. Kento fires away with headbutts and crossfaces Kento across the barricade and then they put Anzai on the apron for a double-team beating. Kento rakes the eyes with his boot and then tags in Davey for a brainbuster for 2 and a chinlock while Kento runs in for a knee drop to the gut. Anzai makes his feet and throws some forearms before Davey beats him down and a clothesline. Back to the chinlock before some stomps/choking in the corner has Anzai out of sorts…but Anzai dodges a charge, gets a knee to the spine, and a belly-to-belly on Davey leads to a cover…but Jun breaks it up, who just stares blankly at his partner and Anzai gets up to yell at him about that and of course that lets Saito tag in. The ref drags an irate Yuma to the corner and Jun hits a running elbow on Davey in the corner, a shoulder and then an elbow drop for a cover before Jun UNLEASHES THE HAIR! Goozle is broken by Davey but Smith can’t capitalize before Jun follows up with a spear, Saito sets something else up but Davey gets a running clothesline which staggers Jun into the corner and it’s double-tag time. Kento explodes with a boot and his double-dropkick combo, Davey runs in to knock Jun off the apron and the duo double-teams Anzai with a corner forearm into a powerslam. Kento hits the blackout on the ropes…but Anzai fires back with a Jumbo knee and then goes for his kneeling chinlock. Kento FINALLY makes the ropes with his boot but he’s pretty out of it. Anzai goes for the Gimlet but Kento slips out and goes for the Shutdown German and almost gets it before Yuma evades an interfering Davey Boy who accidentally boots Kento and then lands his OWN Shutdown German on Miyahara and that gets 3!

***½

I’m sure this was going to be the result no matter what, setting up a title challenge for Kento on the big show (I’ll get to it very soon!) These guys are always gonna be good together even if it’s clear they left a lot in the tank for future stuff, still, lots of shifting loyalties, this was a good TV main-event so to speak, where the match was fun but the big drama was even better.

Post-match Yuma cuts a big promo.

Baka No Jidai (Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato) [2] vs. Hokuto-gun (Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi) [2] – A Block

Background: Definitely a bit of a loser brackets match as both guys are sitting at 1 win, but still, pride and all that. Both Tamura and Hokuto are guys that are always bubbling with the future buzz, with Tamura being a hard-hitting junior and Omori having some strikes of his own and a bit of personality as a weirdo heel but both suffer from the height-focused Tall Japan’s philosophy of pushes.

The Match: Sato and Kuma start, and Arashi of course howls before Sato dances around and gets some low kicks and goes for a single-leg but Kuma is too big and just lays on him and even gets some of his own grappling before Sato grabs the arm and cranks it in the ropes, that breaks but Sato stays on the arm before Kuma overpowers Hikaru and gets his own before tagging in Hokuto who keeps cranking on the arm…but Sato immediately reverses into a kneebar and when Omori spins out Sato goes to the corner and brings in Tamura to smash Hokuto with some stomps, Omori gets Tamura in the ropes and sorta teases going for a shot and Dan just rolls his eyes and unleashes some heavy forearms and trashes Hokuto to the point the ref pulls him out so Dan settles for a cover…but while the ref is still chastising Tamura Omori rakes the eyes and sends Dan outside, where Takashi tries to sneak attack but accidentally nails Omori with a running throat thrust, Omori gains control again though, and sends Takashi in for another running throat thrust…and Tamura sidesteps, letting Takashi crash against the barricade. Dan stomps down Hokuto and now sends him back in and gets a cover before tagging in Sato. Omori and Hikaru slug it out before Sato gets a kick to the spine and then a triangle…but Hokuto turns that into a single-leg crab. Takashi tries to pull the ropes away from Sato…but the ref catches that and kicks the ropes to break it. HIkaru is up again and him and Omori trade shots before a rope-assisted gamengiri lets Tamura tag-in and land a series of running shoulderblocks for a cover, Hokuto gets a go-behind into a German and then a cutter and that lets him bring in Kuma who gets a jumping senton for 2, then a corner clothesline, slam, and second-rope senton…and Hikaru breaks that up and then gets a jump kick on Kuma, Tamura gets a flying shoulder and both Baka No Jidai members set up for something but Kuma turns a whip into a double crossbody…and in comes Omori to pick the bones…and Kuma tosses his stable boss at Dan and Sato. Tamura recovers and starts slugging back, a series of short-range lariats sets up a running lariat by Tamura who gets a fireman’s carry takeover…but Kuma is up first and gets a dropkick and then a Dominator for 2.9. A top-rope senton follows for 3.

**¼

So as much as I enjoyed Tamura kinda showing something as just this no-nonsense guy clobbering people…it’s hard to sell that and immediately transition into the sorta played out Hokuto silliness we’ve had for years now. Maybe it’ll never happen for him, but if he just sits at the comedy level with Takashi and Kuma…that’s fine, just don’t act like no, we’re supposed to take him seriously. Match was pretty sluggish overall, and had a real lame duck vibe to it but it wasn’t…incompetent, just sorta low energy.

Naoya Nomura & Ryuki Honda [6] vs. HAVOC (Oddyssey & XYON) [8] – B Block

Background: So I believe that we get a weird threeway tie between Naoya/Honda, HAVOC, and Kento/Davey if they win here, as all will be tied at 8 points and all have tiebreakers over each other. HAVOC are in with a win as they’d have gone undefeated through the block. HAVOC are champs, Naoya and Honda have held tag gold in the past but it’s been a while, they’re scrappy brawlers to HAVOC’s more monster style team.

The Match: We start the match with a comedy sequence in the pre-match patdown and then HAVOC do rock paper scissors for the start and Honda gets in their face about it…so it’s Ryuki and XYON to start. Lockup and Honda gets the Australian into the ropes easily before landing a cheap shot and it’s shoulderblock time from both guys with XYON coming out ahead before eating a drop toehold and Honda’s rope choke and a taunt at Oddyssey. XYON evades a Honda corner charge with a float-over and gets his twisting whip into the buckle and now it’s XYON’s turn to taunt the corner…and well it’s double-tag time. Nomura gets tossed down a few times before Oddyssey misses a run into the corner and Naoya tries to wear him out with strikes…but a pair of shoulders takes out Nomura and an interfering Ryuki and as the native team powders, HAVOC follow and we get a brawl ringside and Honda/Naoya get whipped into each other. HAVOC pose and joke around and a defiant Ryuki pops up to unleash a flurry of offense and gets dropped. The champs continue to pick apart the hotheaded brawlers with stereo slams onto the apron and it’s back in for a 2 count on Nomura from Oddyssey followed by a trio of elbow drops…and Honda breaks it up and goes crazy on the Odd-one before XYON drags him out of the ring. Oddyssey spends too much time showboating though and missing a jumping splash and Naoya tags Honda back in to continue just throwing rapidfire forearms at the big man…who drops Honda with a knee an brings in XYON for a back suplex/neckbreaker and that’s 2.5 for the Samoan as Nomura breaks it up. Honda still can’t make the tag but Nomura fires up the crowd as XYON hits some corner charges until Ryuki gets an elbow and a shoulderblock and it’s Nomura with the hot tag, dropkick, spear for 2.5 and Naoya calls Ryuki in. A corner elbow and then a running clothesline set up a double spear on XYON and they get the same on a charging Oddyssey, flying splash by Nomura onto XYON and then Honda’s running lariat gets 2.9. Ryuki goes for his crossface/chinlock but XYON breaks and brings in Oddyssey to run everybody over and get the double-sidewalk slam…and a tag to XYON sets up Oddyssey’s blackhole slam followed by XYON’s flying headbutt and that’s 3.

**¾

I will say that I think that HAVOC have developed some real chemistry as a team, and while some of Honda’s manic brawling and singlemindedness on Oddyssey worked, I never really thought the champs were in danger. Still, scrappy brawlers versus big monsters is fine stuff but nothing exemplary.

MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka [2] vs. Baka No Jidai (Hideki Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo) [6] – A Block

Background: So MUSASHI and Seiki are obviously out, but Hideki and Kengo, along with two other teams are tied at 6, so even if Baka win, they’ll need HAVOC to win (as they have a tiebreaker over them) to pull off the block victory. MUSASHI and Seiki are juniors, and while Kengo is junior adjacent, Hideki is pure heavyweight.

The Match: We get some pre-bell disrespect from Hideki before we start with MUSASHI and Seiki. Kengo immediately gets Seiki into the ropes and gives a break before MUSASHI fires away with shots and it’s international time before we get a shoulderblock standoff…and then MUSASHI throws chops before Mashimo goes to the hair, which sets up Yoshioka for a double-team flurry of kicks…but that brings in Suzuki who chokes MUSASHI to the mat and Kengo stomps away, then Hideki comes in to stomp away, then Kengo back in to get a knee strike and some repeated covers, back to HIdeki and now we get a Garvin Stomp of all things, more quick tag and Kengo is in to big-league MUSASHI who keeps firing off those desperate forearms before getting booted into the corner, MUSASHI finally gets a float over and a gamengiri and it’s tag to Seiki who explodes with speed, trips up Kengo and dropkicks him outside, and then low-bridges a charging Hideki for an Asai moonsault. Back inside and Yoshioka gets a flurry of kicks, ducks a shot from Kengo and gets an enzuigiri…but his followup buzzsaw is caught into a kneebar and Suzuki takes out a charging MUSASHI with an abdominal stretch. Seiki makes the ropes and we’re back to a 1v1 with Kengo but MUSASHI comes in, Seiki stops a whip and the All-Asia champs get some slick double teams before some miscommunication leads to Yoshioka tagging MUSASHI with an errant kick…and it’s back to Hideki with a cravate and a neckbreaker on MUSASHI for 2 but the heavyweight is flummoxed by MUSASHI’s speed who starts his low dropkick combo and Seiki then wipes Kengo off the apron so both can blast Suzuki with chops and kicks, then a MUSHASHI kick sets up Seiki’s scissor kick and a double-low thrust kick sets the stage for MUSASHI to go up…but Kengo cuts him off long enough for Suzuki to dodge the frog splash. Quick sequence from Seiki and Kengo ends with a Mashimo Exploder and Baka No Jidai brutalize MUSASHI with strikes, get a double gamengiri and Hideki’s cradle tombstone is broken up by Yoshioka. HIdeki goes for his double-arm suplex but MUSASHI evades with a backslide and we get a long pin reversal sequence finally sets up MUSASHI getting a victory roll for 3.

***

So mostly I just want a long singles match between Kengo and Seiki, but MUSASHI did expert work taking the heat this match and even Hideki was better with his heat segment by using quick tags to uh…cover for lets call his cardio issues. Match of the tournament for Baka no Jidai.

Titans Of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos) [6] vs. HAVOC (Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino) [6] – A Block

Background: Well, this is for the block. THe monster team of the Titans are on a tear, suffering no pinfall losses, HAVOC are two veterans that give up a lot of size, but Go has been a monster slayer in his younger years and they have the technical edge, veteran acumen, and overall savviness edge…but the Titans are like a combined 2 feet taller and 120 pounds heavier.

The Match: It’s Ashino and Ren to start with a lockup, Ayabe wins, and musses Shotaro’s hair. Ashino tries an ankle pick but is brushed off and a second attempt fails too. Shotaro fakes a test of strength and finally takes down Ren but is immediately tosses and we get a tag to Go and Talos. Lockup goes to Talos who throttles Go in the ropes and then flexes over him so Shiozaki gets a cheapshot and a headlcok before trying a shoulderblock battle that goes about as well as expected. Go tries to get tricky with a second-rope dive but gets caught in a bear hug…and breaks out the BELL CLAP to break, my goodness. Talos stymies with with more size and in comes Ren to keep it up. Go tries to fire up, but Ayabe boots Shiozaki down to stop any comeback and it’s back to Talos with a leaning choke on the ropes and then a goozle. The former NOAH star slips out and does some ducking and weaving to dodge Talos’ shots and he gets a low dropkick before bringing in Ashino…who gets immediately dropped but keeps on slugging before Talos drops the guy with a kitchen sink knee. Ayabe back in for a double boot choke in the corner. The ref breaks that up so it’s Ren with a big slam and a crab and this is…deliberately paced. Go runs in to break it up but Ren easily drops him before bringing Talos back in to toss Shotaro around and then get a release sidewalk slam for 2. Shotaro catches Talos’ knee in the ropes with a dropkick and tags Go who keeps up some evasion stuff and keeps at the knee until he gets a lariat to the kneeling Talos for a cover. Go tries for a brainbuster but Talos is JUST TOO BIG and he reverses for a slam and it’s time for Ren to give Shiozaki a Yakuza kick in the corner and then a full-nelson but Go POWERS OUT and starts his comeback with a slugfest. Shiozaki keeps going all wobble-legged for Ren’s forearms but the former champ keeps bouncing back and playing to the crowd cause he’s y’know, awesome. The vet finally just settles for a dragonscrew legwhip and he brings in Shotaro to keep on the leg. Ayabe just knocks Ashino around again but Ren whiffs an attempt at a Yakuza kick and Shotaro gets a chopblock and more abuse on the knee and then goes for a German on the beanpole but Ren slips out and gets his hooking clothesline…so Go runs in and Talos also does. So the former ace of NOAH tries to win the 1v2 but eats a double boot…and then Shotaro eats a double-boot and the Titans set up their Goozle/Hart Attack…but Go grabs Talos when he runs the ropes and Shotaro tries for a guillotine but when Ren blocks it Ashino settles for a DDT. Shotaro goes for a suplex and after multiple strikes from Go they finally hit it. Ren tries to run in and eats a double-team before Ayabe gets an anklelock and then Go snatches one on Talos…but HAVOC get kicked into each other, double boots, and then the Goozle Hart Attack lands on Shotaro which Go breaks up. Ayabe goes for his Death Roulette but Shotaro slips out for an anklelock and Ren cannot kick free and Shotaro gets a leg-lace and the crowd is electric…but Talos breaks it up. Go runs in and eats a chokeslam, Shotaro eats a chokeslam, and Talos tosses Ashino into a Death Roulette for 3.

**¼

Yeah this was a lot of nothing, some of Go’s selling got me semi-invested, but the Titans are two sorta big, boring guys who just clobber everybody, and I’m not opposed to monster teams, but they’re just…not especially dynamic or interesting. Good on HAVOC for being somewhat game, but they just didn’t have much chemistry so it was just “okay that didn’t work” as a shrug off and if you’re going to do that, don’t be 18 minutes long.

Well Titans win, and post-match they cut a promo. Them vs. the Champs for the tournament.

Ultimately I think this will be the “well we should have had Double Yuma” tournament, and everything else felt sorta cold and lifeless and that’s partially to blame for my exceedingly late reviews of all of this, but to you who do read this? Thank you.