Guide to Japanese Wrestling 2010

[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate USA on COMM - March 26, 2010, Phoenix, AZ - (4 1/4 hrs)

 

 

March 26, 2010, Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Celebrity Theatre (920 fans)

 

1. Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi -vs- Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw [* 3/4]

--- Dragon Gate vs Chikara. Action standard done well to start off the show in a good way. The moment that stuck out the most for me was Jigsaw's neck-landing out on the apronside, but there was plenty of cool moves going on as it was that type of bout until Yokosuka got to look strong beating Quackenbush as he's facing YAMATO for the Dream Gate belt the next day.

13:34 of 13:36 - Yokosuka pinned Quackenbush after the Mugen

 

 

2. YAMATO -vs- TJ Perkins [* 1/4]

--- Too lightly worked for my taste and it wasn't an attempt at anything special either. Just a little showcase where YAMATO got to look like the champion he is winning with a simple sleeper.

11:23 of 11:22 - YAMATO made Perkins submit to a sleeper

 

 

3. Brian Kendrick & Jon Moxley -vs- Paul London & Jimmy Jacobs [* 1/2]

--- The American storylines of Dragon Gate USA with Kendrick not really wanting to get involved and stuff like that with Jacobs pressuring him into taking part which all resutled in Kendrick getting the lucky win and more action happening after the bout.

13:52 of 13:52 - Kendrick pinned Jacobs with a small package

 

 

4. Masato Yoshino -vs- Shingo Takagi [* 3/4]

--- At least the gameplan was focused as Yoshino worked over Shingo's arm the entire match.....even if it was Shingo's knee that was taped. But I guess Yoshino wanted the Sol Naciente to hurt as much as possible as it's that hold which got him the win. The bout was never really fastpaced or brought much more then logic break-down of Shingo.

16:05 of 16:04 - Yoshino made Takagi submit to the Sol Naciente

 

 

5. BxB Hulk © -vs- Naruki Doi - (Open the Freedom Gate Title) [* 1/2]

--- Sadly not the most passionate defences from Hulk. Doi didn't really look like a ex-Dream Gate Champion with the little fire he showed here. And Hulk wasn't able to bring anything too special into this except drop E.V.O.'s until he had Doi beat. Still it had it's pops, but not too dramatic.

14:00 of 13:59 - Hulk pinned Doi after the E.V.O.P. to retain the Open the Freedom Gate Title in his 3rd defence.

 

 

6. CIMA & Gamma & Dragon Kid -vs- Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson & Jack Evans [** 1/4]

--- Warriors-5 against the Young Bucks and Jack Evans! This had to become a super flyers bout with that Americano side! And the Jacksons & Evans came with the spectacular! Almost non-stop when they were allowed. The most spectacular the Warriors-5 came with was Gamma spitting. Well, almost.... they came alive toward the end for the finish sprint which made this a entertaining main event with CIMA grabbing the victory with the flying knee bomb.

18:01 of 18:01 - CIMA pinned Matt after the Meteora

 

 

7. Fray (w/ 8: Prophet, Chimera, Brad Allen, Jake Crest, Dave Crest, Dustin Cutler, Brandon Cutler and Malachi Jackson) [* 1/4]

--- A bunch of indy guys I know little about having a rumble like match with a new guy coming in every 2 minutes or so. Result was mixed, but sort of fun in it's amateur ways as there was so many guy shifting the focus. The winner ended up being some guy called Brad Allen.

15:51 - Brad Allen win the 8-Man Fray

 

 

8. LA Park & Hijo del Rey Misterio -vs- Derrick Newkirk & GQ Gallo [*]

--- LA Park was easily the most over guy on the show, but this match was all kinds of awkward. Very random to the point they didn't know how to fill the long bout and they had a bunch of miscommunications along the way. LA Lark is always a cool motherfucker and he delivered a tope to wow the fans, but the rest of the match was all kinds of blah! Including the finish where the referee counted the three for Gallo, but then changed his mind and DQ'ed Gallo instead.

22:50 of 22:50 - Park & Misterio defeated Newkirk & Gallo by DQ

 

 

July 10, 2006, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse - (550 fans)

 

9. Masaaki Mochizuki -vs- Roderick Strong [** 1/4]

--- A pretty good match, but I felt they didn't get it interesting enough. Some nice moments like Strong's backdrop on the apron, but Mochizuki is far from the best form in his career and didn't really do enough to highen the quality. There was some damange done to his foot, but he still came with the kicks and won with a series of them.

13:47 of 13:46 - Mochizuki pinned Strong after a high headkick

 

 

June 11, 2009, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (2,350 fans)

 

10. Naruki Doi © -vs- Masato Yoshino - (Open the Dream Gate Title) [**]

--- Friends and fellow stablemates for a long time face for Doi's Dream Gate Title. Yet, even if they know each other quite well they didn't manage to create a very interesting match. Dragon Gate matches are all about the speed, speed, speed. They do however slow down their main event singles to create that climax at the end, but as we've seen many times over the last few years the effect is limited because they don't really fill that dead time with any personal touches or schems that work. It's just a slowed down Dragon Gate match where they just stand around a lot more in between sprints and spots. And that's not how you make a classic bout. Fairly dull actually for most of the build-up, but sure enough like most Dragon Gate matches they did manage that little hotspot toward the end with the finishers and some lim selling. But still quite underwhelming once Doi won with his sliding kick to retain the belt once more.

28:13 of 28:11 - Doi pinned Yoshino after the Bakatare Sliding Kick to retain the Open the Dream Gate Title in his 4th defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: A easy fun show, but not of PPV quality. Too much regular stuff and not enough super highlights to make it more then just a show for the live fans.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate USA on COMM - March 27, 2010, Phoenix, AZ - (3 1/2 hrs)

 

 

March 27, 2010, Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Celebrity Theatre (1,350 fans)

 

1. Shingo Takagi -vs- Genki Horiguchi [* 1/4]

--- Takagi is levels above Horiguchi, but Horiguchi have the Backslide From Hell....erm...Heaven as it's called now. So when Genki attempted it after Takagi had dominated the match I held my breath. But nah, Horiguchi was royally beat up by Shingo and didn't stand a chance.

10:07 of 10:07 - Takagi pinned Horiguchi with a Made In Japan

 

 

2. Jack Evans & Jimmy Jacobs -vs- Brian Kendrick & Paul London [* 3/4]

--- Indy flyers doing their flying with the loser having to leave Dragon Gate USA. Fun for the spectacular lightweight jumping around and the kick Jacobs got in his face. And seemingly Kendrick can no longer appear on a Dragon Gate USA show after losing to Jacobs and his front sleeper.

10:44 of 10:44 - Jacobs made Kendrick submit to a front sleeper

 

 

3. Jon Moxley -vs- Tommy Dreamer [**]

--- Moxley used the previous Dragon Gate USA shows to pick on Tommy Dreamer and here he gets his hardcore fight! And it a typial Tommy Dreamer special. He totally beat Moxley up to the fans delight. But Moxley had a back-up plan as he had a punk chick with him which got kissed and piledriven by Dreamer, but she distracted the ex-ECW star enough for the tide to turn with both YAMATO & Shingo coming in to attack Dreamer in some random run-ins. Anyway, Moxley then went on to win.

12:30 of 12:30 - Moxley pinned Dreamer after a DDT on a chair

 

 

4. YAMATO © -vs- Susumu Yokosuka - (Open the Dream Gate Title) [** 1/2]

--- Dream Gate time! First time the belt has been defended on a Dragon Gate USA show and it's YAMATO's first defence of it too having only won it 5 days prior to this bout. And this was better then the YAMATO vs Doi match. Better crowd too even if there was some "This is boring" chats as YAMATO was working over the arm showing off his submission skills. But one can't complain about that really. It was a fairly slow start that didn't have too much to do with anything. YAMATO did go back to the arm and Yokosuka was weakend by it, but you know it'll never 100% count in Dragon Gate because once the finisher mania starts it's all about that portion. This match did feel like a one-man show as YAMATO was both the one having the best attacks. he was also the only one who seemed to connect with the crowd as Yokosuka doesn't really have any other facial expressions than that Droopy Dog look. So the victory was so deserving once the Gallaria landed.

21:42 of 21:42 - YAMATO pinned Yokosuka with the Gallaria to retain the Open the Dream Gate Title in his 1st defence.

 

 

5. Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi & BxB Hulk -vs- CIMA & Gamma & Dragon Kid [** 3/4]

--- This gets top-billing because of the famous 6-man acion-packed match that happend in ROH in 2006 and they are trying to do the same here riding on the hype of that "*****" match. Not that the ROH match really was a classic. It was just the standard Dragon Gate action match that they do all the time in Japan happening in front of a new US crowd. I think I gave it a *** rating. And again here they do a "classic action match" of slightly below the famous of "**** 3/4" on the Meltzer scale which I rate ** 3/4. So yeah, it was a good actionfest! Fans were happy chanting "This is awesome!" and they went and did exactly what they were out to do. If anyone care the World-1 team won with Yoshino continuing to be one of the hardest pushed guys in the company of late.

27:25 of 27:25 - Yoshino made Gamma submit to the Sol Naciente

 

 

COMMENTS: A fairly strong show. They had another great action 6-man, one of the better Dream Gate Title matches in a while and got Tommy Dreamer to job to one of DG USA's most focused non-Japanese guy in Moxley.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NEO on COMM - March 28, 2010, Ishioka - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

March 28, 2010, Ishioka Athletic-Park Gym (519 fans)

 

1. Aya Yuki -vs- Chii Tomiya [1/2*]

--- Big Yuki facing small Ice Ribbon girl Tomiya. And Tomiya did try, but she really was just too small to do any real damage....

7:36 of 7:35 - Yuki pinned Tomiya after a Kamikaze

 

 

2. Tanny Mouse & Pretty Ota -vs- Tsubo Genjin & Mr. Buddhaman [1/4*]

-- Speaking of small. Here comes the midgets! Buddhaman and Ota! In a terrible mixed-everything tag featuring Tanny. Let's just leave this one alone.....

9:54 of 9:51 - Tanny made Tsubo submit to the Paro Special

 

 

3. Atsuko Emoto -vs- Mima Shimoda [*]

--- A brawling match with Emoto friends there to help here against a aggressive Shimoda. And that help helped. It helped Emoto win by count out as Shimoda was held back from entering the ring.

8:20 of 8:16 - Emoto defeated Shimoda by Count Out

 

 

4. Yoshiko Tamura -vs- Cherry [*]

--- Cherry over-achieving against Tamura getting to kick out of a collection of finishers before getting pancaked. Not too interesting, but at least they tried.

10:56 of 9:57 - Tamura pinned Ceryy after a top rope rolling senton

 

 

5. Dump Matsumoto & Kyoko Kimura -vs- Yuki Miyazaki & Hanako Kobayashi [* 1/4]

--- Wild'ish. Kobayashi was bloodied up and that's more then enough to please me as she deserves that so badly because she usually is so badly. And the Dump lariat and bodypress hit well too so it was nearly complete satifactionary the way it ended.

9:44 of 9:45 - Matsumoto pinned Kobayashi after a bodypress

 

 

6. 11-Person Battle Royal [1/4*]

--- Just a quick battle royal just for fun with the people who'd worked the undercard. Aya Yuki gets win #2 today.

(2:06) - Yoshiko Tamura eliminated

(2:38) - Hanako Kobayashi eliminated

(3:12) - Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki & Mima Shimoda eliminated

(3:52) - Pretty Ota eliminated

(3:59) - Chii Tomiya eliminated

(4:22) - Mr. Buddhaman eliminated

(4:41) - Cherry eliminated

(4:50) - Tsubo Genjin eliminated

4:50 of 4:52 - Aya Yuki win the 11-Person Battle Royal

 

 

7. Kyoko Inoue & Toshie Uematsu -vs- Jaguar Yokota & Makoto [*]

--- The main event features Makoto, so no it's not a epic coming at the end of this show. Nah, it's just a happy match with some old stars and some silly girls with the most out of shape one winning by powering Makoto down with lariats and a big powerbomb.

16:19 of 16:16 - Inoue pinned Makoto after a powerbomb

 

 

COMMENTS: NEO goes to the districts and actually draws well with a packed room of fans. Not that they gave them all that much reason to come back, but I think they enjoyed themselfs regardless.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

FUKA MATSURI on Samurai TV - March 28, 2010, Tokyo - (3 hrs)

 

 

March 28, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (1,550 fans)

 

1. Io Shirai -vs- Kagetsu [* 1/4]

--- I liked the way Io wrestled here. She put much more effort into how her moves looked then the usual over-speed mode. Her missile dropkicks looked beautiful. Old school good. And then she won with another blast from the past. The Rider Kick. Summersault top rope dropkick like Hikaru Fukuoka and others used to do. And that was enough to beat the Sendai Girl. There was a funny mishap in there as Kagetsu went for a backslide she realised that Io was facing the wrong way to execute it and got all confused of what to do about it.

8:23 of 8:24 - Shirai pinned Kagetsu after the Rider Kick

 

 

 

2. 17-Person Fuka Matsuri Rumble [*]

--- Comedy Rumble time and the king of comedy is Minoru Suzuki!!! Well, what was fun was seeing him stiff Tanny with slaps to the head and being a bully to everyone who stepped in his way. And the only one brave enough to stand up to him was 12 years old Riho! And the little girl actually won too when Tokyo Gurentai members Suzuki and Fujitas was fighting out on the apron Riho pushed them out to win this long, but at least fun comedy rumble.

(8:11) - Yumiko Hotta eliminated

(11:41) - Gami eliminated

(12:11) - Caribbean KIM eliminated

(13:28) - Small Giant Baba eliminated

(14:22) - Kikutaro & Fuka Kid eliminated

(14:54) - Bolshoi Kid & Kazuki & Small Antonio Inoki eliminated

(15:46) - Emi Sakura eliminated

(16:20) - Tanny Mouse eliminated

(18:11) - Yuki Miyazaki eliminated

(18:35) - Mio Shirai eliminated

(19:02) - Bullfight Sora eliminated

(19:38) - Minoru Suzuki & Minoru Fujita eliminated

19:38 of 19:24 - Riho win the 17-Person Fuka Matsuri Rumble

 

 

 

3. Tigre Fuka & Tojuki Leon -vs- Hiroka & Princesa Sujei [* 1/2]

--- Lucha match bringing in former LLPW wrestler Hiroka who's mainly been working Mexico the last few years and Princesa Sujei to face Tojuki Leon and Fuka under a cute Tiger mask. And it was a fun stylistic match where the lucha girls gave the masked Japanese side a lesson in lucha. But the big moments was Fuka & Leon's diving big out from the ring! And then they combined managed to beat Sujei with a double cradle with no Hiroka to save her.

8:48 of 8:50 - Fuka & Leon pinned Sujei with a schoolboy & a jack knife cradle

 

 

4. Ultimo Dragon & Madoka -vs- NOSAWA Rongai & Mazada [3/4*]

--- Just a very average standard from these guys with Ultimo Dragon getting to be the hero at the end.

11:45 of 11:43 - Dragon pinned Mazada after a Asai DDT

 

 

 

5. Yumi Ohka & Misaki Ohata -vs- Ayumi Kurihara & Natsuki*Taiyo [* 1/2]

--- Modern joshi. Plenty of action and no direction. And when someone like Natsuki wasn't having a good day slipping up a couple of times, then the experience wasn't going to be more then average no matter how much effort they were going to put into the actual running. And no winner either which was very clear with the short 15-min time limit.

15:00 of 15:00 - Ohka & Ohata wrestled Kurihara & Natsuki to a 15:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

 

6. Nanae Takahashi -vs- Fuka - (Fuka's Retirement Match) [** 1/2]

--- Finally. No more Fuka! Ok, she could perform on occation, and this was one of them, but she was pushed way beyond her limits to the point it was annoying. As for this match, it was a last hurra for the former Jd' Star queen landing all her finishers one final time, but naturally that's not enough to beat a Superwoman like Nanae who kicked out of all her stuff and more. Fuka is no complete performer, but she did want this to be a good match and gave it what she could pleasing those who showed up with dives and fighting spirit when Nanae was the one to land her bigger moves. And Fuka kicked out of a lot until it was Nanaracca time. That spelled the end of Fuka after a valiant effort on her behalf here.

16:33 of 16:33 - Takahashi pinned Fuka with the Nanaracca

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS: A entertaining show with the usual pros and weaknesses a joshi show has these days and a nice send off for Fuka. Fuka, yes I'd pay for that, but not a dime to watch her wrestle.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[neil's bitch]

PunQ, what is the womens seen like over in japan at the moment? i remeber watching GAEA many moons ago an being fairly impressed with it, but hadent heard much since they closed down.

[PUNQ]

SECRET BASE on COMM - March 28, 2010, Tokyo - (1 hr)

 

 

March 28, 2010, Tokyo - Nishi-Chofu Martial Arts Arena (95 fans)

 

1. Spark Aoki -vs- Cyclone Kitahara [1/4*]

--- When you get stiffed out by Spark you got very little business being in the ring.....

4:53 of 4:50 - Aoki defeated Kitahara by TKO

 

 

2. Spark Aoki & Space Galaxy Soldier Andoros -vs- Takeshi Takeshima & Ferist [1/4*]

--- This was supposed to be a 3-way, but Aoki not satified with one match wanted to join so they made this one a tag. But this match feature bleepin' amateurs and had nothing to offer at all. And they managed to fuck up the finish in a way as Aoki rolled his opponent into the ropes on the cradle, but since that was the finish they were clueless how to improvise so they just ignored that they were laying in the ropes for the three.

13:18 of 13:18 - Aoki pinned Takeshima with the Oklahoma Roll

 

 

3. ? Umeda -vs- Karate Mummy - (Kickboxing)

--- A kickboxing Mummy..... that's all you need to know.

4:59 of 4:57 - Umeda defeated Mummy by TKO 1:57 of the 21nd Round whne the towel was thrown in

 

 

4. Heiya Katsumi -vs- Yamada Man Pound [1/4*]

--- Just uninteresting.....

9:30 of 9:30 - Katsumi made Yamada submit to a wakigatame armbar

 

 

5. Amigo Suzuki & Kamui & Chango -vs- Mototsugu Shimizu & Kazuhiro Tamura & Jun Ogawauchi [*]

--- Between the 6 of them they managed to get in a decent ending. And it was mostly Jun who had to fight and with the other team tagging and challenging him Jun eventually ran out of steam and was beat by the 3 Amigos. This was the best I've seen of Jun since his comeback, that's for sure.

18:15 of 18:15 - Suzuki pinned Ogawauchi after a top rope legdrop from Chango

 

 

COMMENTS: They didn't even try with the undercard. Nobody wanted to do anything. At least the regular Secret Base guys had a decent main event even if it did take a while before it got going too.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

PunQ, what is the womens seen like over in japan at the moment? i remeber watching GAEA many moons ago an being fairly impressed with it, but hadent heard much since they closed down.

It's pretty much gone downhill ever since. Lots of companies and project trying to build something but not enough strenght, guidence or anything to build on. Since GAEA & AJW shut down in April 2005 several other comapnies have went the same way. Jd' Star, IBUKI, WOMAN, M's Style, SUN and a few more have also tried and closed their doors. And in just one week NEO who's been in business nearly 11 years will also shut down.

 

There are still plenty of small companies, so now we've got WAVE run by Gami which bases its wrestling on comedy and normail joshi sprints. Ice Ribbon which has kids wrestling, a lot of stup

[PUNQ]

BJPW on COMM - April 1, 2010, Tokyo - (1 1/2 hrs)

 

 

April 1, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (161 fans)

 

1. Atsushi Ohashi & Kazuki Hashimoto -vs- Masato Shibata & Takumi Tsukamoto [*]

--- Only hints of interesting wrestling in this one. A little heavyweight fighting from Shibata and basic rookie style small guy fighting from the rest until Ohashi got a rare win making rookie Tsukamoto submit.

12:16 of 12:14 - Ohashi made Tsukamoto submit to a Boston Crab

 

 

2. The Winger & Daikokubo Benkei -vs- Mens Teioh & Yuichi Taniguchi [1/4*]

--- I was totally not interested in this.... lame self-unmasking DQ.

9:16 of 9:14 - Winger & Benkei defeated Teioh & Taniguchi by DQ

 

 

3. Abdullah Kobayashi & Masashi Takeda & Mototsugu Shimizu -vs- Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa & Yamada Man Pound - (Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match) [*]

--- Can't say it was bad, but it sure wasn't anything special. And when it featured a lot of Secret Base guys Yamada and Shimizu fighting, that was it for me. Sure Abby is charming and Kasai & Numazawa played around a bit, but it wasn't a match for the ages. Baseball bat elbow drop finished off Yamada before they went too far with this.

12:32 of 12:31 - Kobayashi pinned Yamada after a top tope barbed wire baseball bat elbow drop

 

 

4. Ryuji Ito & Shadow WX -vs- Yuko Miyamoto & Kankuro Hoshino - (Light Tubes Death Match) [*]

--- Just your run of the mill light tube match.... as dull as it can be done with a couple of big bumps to give us something to cheer like Hoshino's chair set-up bump off the turnbuckle and the light tube splash finish.

14:36 of 14:35 - Ito pinned Hoshino after a top rope light tube bodypress

 

 

5. Takashi Sasaki -vs- Ryuichi Kawakami [* 1/4]

--- Didn't really get very interesting until the final minutes when Kawakami started suplexing Sasaki and laying in the elbows. Can't say Sasaki put up most of an effort which was why the opening for Kawakami came, but the veteran knew how to get the win anyway using his modified Emerald Frosion.

12:53 of 12:52 - Sasaki pinned Kawakami after the D-Geist

 

 

6. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshito Sasaki -vs- Shuji Ishikawa & Yuji Okabayashi - (BJW Tag Title Tournament - Semi-Final) [** 1/4]

--- Finally something good on this show. And not surprisingly it came from the Sekimoto crew as he and Sasaki battle heavyweights Ishikawa & Okabayashi. And you could sense the competitiveness between Sekimoto and Okabayashi right away. No love lost between those two. And Okabayashi is such a good rival for Sekimoto and I hope they do something big between the two soon. For now Sekimoto still is Oka's senior and German'ed him down for the pin. But he did need two Germans to keep the big guy down. Sasaki and Ishikawa where good too, but it really was the other two that had the main roles in this fight. And this means Sekimoto & Sasaki will face Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa in the finals for the BJPW Tag Title on April 28.

17:58 of 17:56 - Sekimoto pinned Okabayashi with a German Suplex

 

 

COMMENTS: A low-priority show except for the main event which managed to mean something based off the wrestling as they fought over who'd go to the title final.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[neil's bitch]

PunQ, what is the womens seen like over in japan at the moment? i remeber watching GAEA many moons ago an being fairly impressed with it, but hadent heard much since they closed down.

It's pretty much gone downhill ever since. Lots of companies and project trying to build something but not enough strenght, guidence or anything to build on. Since GAEA & AJW shut down in April 2005 several other comapnies have went the same way. Jd' Star, IBUKI, WOMAN, M's Style, SUN and a few more have also tried and closed their doors. And in just one week NEO who's been in business nearly 11 years will also shut down.

 

There are still plenty of small companies, so now we've got WAVE run by Gami which bases its wrestling on comedy and normail joshi sprints. Ice Ribbon which has kids wrestling, a lot of stup

[PUNQ]

There are some good joshi shows available, but following everything on a regular basis is not good for anybody. I'm more ahead with the joshi then the other puroresu, so here is my Top-10 joshi of 2010 so far to give you a clue what matches to look out for.

 

 

 

1. May 21, 2010 - Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo & Ayumi Kurihara -vs- Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto & Tomoka Nakagawa [***] (RA)

2. March 14, 2010 - Yoshiko Tamura -vs- Meiko Satomura - (NEO/NWA Pacific Titles) [***] (NEO)

3. July 18, 2010 - Nanae Takahashi -vs- Kaori Yoneyama - (JWP Title) [** 3/4] (JWP)

4. August 22, 2010 - Kaoru -vs- Mayumi Ozaki - (Oz Title; Dress Up Wild Fight; Last Woman Standing Match) [** 3/4] (Oz)

5. February 7, 2010 - Ran Yu Yu & Akino -vs- Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato - (Oz Tag Title) [** 1/2] (Oz)

6. April 18, 2010 - Kayoko Haruyama -vs- Nanae Takahashi - (JWP Title) [** 1/2] (JWP)

7. August 22, 2010 - Ran Yu Yu & Akino -vs- Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato - (Oz Tag Title) [** 1/2] (Oz)

8. March 19, 2010 - Nanae Takahashi & Fuka & Kazumi Shimouma -vs- Aja Kong & Yoshiko Tamura & Ryo Mizunami [** 1/2] (PR)

9. March 28, 2010 - Nanae Takahashi -vs- Fuka - (Fuka's Retirement Match) [** 1/2] (Fuka)

10. July 18, 2010 - Aja Kong -vs- Tojuki Leon [** 1/4] (JWP)

 

 

 

 

 

Kaientai Dojo on GAORA TV - April 2, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

April 2, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (721 fans)

 

1. Taka Michinoku & Yasu Urano -vs- HIROKI & MIYAWAKI [* 1/4]

--- Hi69, now HIROKI, back in K-Dojo where he made most of his career wrestling in a match with his mentor Taka Michinoku. This is the 8th Anniversary show of Kaientai Dojo so they have guys that started with it joining in like MIYAWAKI and current DDT'er Urano. Wasn't much of a welcome back feeling. HIROKI kind of has to start from scratch after taking the time-out and Taka had little trouble taking care of the guy. Best part was Urano sitting down with the fans cheering on.

11:44 of 11:45 - Michinoku pinned HIROKI after a Michinoku Driver II

 

 

2. 7-Team 8th Anniversary Royal Rumble [* 1/2]

--- Team based Rumble with the left overs and a special guest from AJPW... HATE! He and Tonai caused enough chaos to make a difference to the usual indy stuff. Didn't get to win though, but they were runners up after Tomato got Hate out of the way so that Takizawa could Tiger Driver Tonai to win this quick speedy bout.

9:38 of 10:09 - Taishi Takizawa & Kaji Tomato win the 7-Team 8th Anniversary Royal Rumble

 

 

3. GENTARO © -vs- Marines Mask II - (Independent Junior Title) [* 3/4]

--- PSYCHO having success as the sports team mascot winning the Indy Junior Title off of GENTARO who held it for little over 6 months. Not that I think PSYCHO looks very good in that costume. Looks a little 3rd rate if you ask me. Not that he wrestle much different either then the usual PSYCHO style. But with GENTARO they had a decent PSYCHO match with the God Trap getting results.

9:09 of 16:30 - Marines pinned GENTARO with the God Trap to become the 11th Independent Junior Champion.

 

 

4. Ikuto Hidaka © -vs- Makoto Oishi - (International Junior Title) [**]

--- Zero-One's Hidaka coming to defend the International Junior belt against one of K-Dojo's hardest workers in Oishi. Not that Oishi looked all that strong against such a established veteran junior. Because anything strong was done by Hidaka and Oishi ended up looking way too lightweight in his work. Didn't stop this from being a good one with some playing around with the Shawn Capture spot and stuff like that. In the end Hidaka dropped down his version of the Prince's Throne and retains his belt.

9:23 of 13:38 - Hidaka pinned Oishi after the Iwami Ginzan to retain the International Junior Title in his 2nd defence.

 

 

5. Yuji Hino & Saburo Inematsu -vs- Kengo Mashimo & Daigoro Kashiwa - (WEW Hardcore Tag Title vs Strongest-K Tag Title) [* 1/2]

--- Double tag title match! With double set of rules which changed from straight wrestling rules to WEW Hardcore Tag Title rules! A little messy because some wanted the hardcore rules to last all the time so the referee was knocked down from behind and the hardcore could continue! Inematsu smashed chair after chair over Mashimo's head and then Death Valley'ed him to win the Strongest-K Tag Titles for him and Hino, and to retain the WEW Hardcore Tag belts.

10:46 of 13:21 - Inematsu pinned Mashimo after a Death Valley Bomb. Hino & Inematsu retain the WEW Hardcore Tag Title in their 1st defence and become the 13th Strongest-K Tag Champions.

 

 

6. KAZMA © -vs- Shiori Asahi - (Strongest-K Title) [** 1/2]

--- The long K-Dojo style main event. It didn't all work as they followed a style at times that didn't seem like them. But at times they'd do something to make your heart jump. I in particular liked Asahi's various headscissor cradles. They'd usually come out of nothing and surprise the fans in between KAZMA bashing him. And Asahi got a lot of punsihment from the power fighter kicking out of a bunch of impact blows and the fans ate it up once it was time for the climax portion. But there was nothing Asahi could do about KAZMA and his Omori style Axe Bombers and soon found himself unable to fight back. Champ retains!

16:13 of 27:12 - KAZMA pinned Asahi after a lariat to retain the Strongest-K Title in his 3rd defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: Overall a good show, but it's not Kaientai Dojo at it's best. Each match lacked something special to make them unique and K-Dojo used to be good at doing something different.

 

 

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[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate on GAORA TV - April 3, 4, 9 & 10, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

April 3, 2010, Kobe Sambo Hall (1,200 fans)

 

1. Masato Yoshino -vs- CIMA - (King of Gate '10 - Block A) [**]

--- Big match-up in the first round of the 2010 version of King of Gate tournament. And it's CIMA on a downward spiral against Yoshino who's climbing to become Dragon Gate's top and most pushed worker. And that became clear here as he beats CIMA clean with the Sol Naciente submission hold! The bout was a competitive one in true Dragon Gate style. So not really fresh or anything like that. But with the size of the match-up and the importance surrounding that the fans cared and made for a solid end as the big win was a fact for Yoshino.

11:23 of 18:25 - Yoshino made CIMA submit to a Sol Naciente

 

 

2. Masaaki Mochizuki -vs- YAMATO - (King of Gate '10 - Block A) [* 3/4]

--- I found the build up quite weak, but Mochizuki showed he's a veteran catching YAMATO in trouble several time. But YAMATO's cocky youthmanship kept him alive powering back at the old man. The fight got fairly good toward the end with Mochizuki defeating the newly crowned Open the Dream Gate Champion by countering the Gallaria and getting in a Emerald Frosion instead for the pin!

15:25 of 20:19 - Mochizuki pinned YAMATO after a Emerald Frosion

 

 

3. Dragon Kid -vs- Kagetora - (King of Gate '10 - Block A)

--- Just the end with Dragon Kid getting the snap crucifix cradle win.

0:20 of 10:29 - Dragon Kid pinned Kagetora with the Bibel cradle

 

 

4. Gamma -vs- Naruki Doi - (King of Gate '10 - Block A)

--- More lucky pin wins.....

0:27 of 13:26 - Gamma pinned Doi with the G9 Clutch

 

 

April 4, 2010, Kyoto KBS Hall (750 fans)

 

5. Genki Horiguchi -vs- Don Fujii - (King of Gate '10 - Block B )

--- No lariats was going to stop the backslides from coming....

0:25 of 9:23 - Horiguchi pinned Fujii with the Backslide From Heaven

 

 

6. Shingo Takagi -vs- Takuya Sugawara - (King of Gate '10 - Block B )

--- Sugawara had all his friends there to help him, but Takagi was a muscle man and beat them all up!

0:29 of 10:05 - Takagi pinned Sugawara after a lariat

 

 

7. BxB Hulk -vs- Cyber Kong - (King of Gate '10 - Block B )

--- Wow! Hulk absolutely beat the crap out of CYBER KONG!!!!

0:22 of 5:46 - Hulk pinned Kong after a headkick

 

 

8. K-ness -vs- Susumu Yokosuka - (King of Gate '10 - Block B ) [**]

--- One can say K-ness is having a good period after barely being on the radar a few years! Winning belts and getting a strong push here beating former Dream Gate champion Yokosuka! Slow building this one, but they both got their periods looking strong and K-ness really looking unstoppable at the end with his modified Northern Light Bombs like finisher dropping Yokosuka down, down, down.....

13:17 of 21:49 - K-ness pinned Yokosuka after the Darkness Buster

 

 

April 9, 2010, Takayama - Hida Earth Wisdom Center (410 fans)

 

9. Shingo Takagi -vs- Genki Horiguchi - (King of Gate '10 - Block B - Round 2) [*]

--- Basic and less.... Mild compared to the usual Dragon Gate battles. Genki had the backsldie in which CIMA thought he'd won and was about the enter the ring to celebrate and only seconds later Takagi had Genki beat with a slippery version of the Made In Japan.

8:10 of 8:31 - Takagi pinned Horiguchi with the Made In Japan

 

 

10. BxB Hulk -vs- K-ness - (King of Gate '10 - Block B - Round 2) [* 1/4]

--- While it was no bad match, it failed to get interesting. K-ness wasn't nearly as aggressive as he was against Yokosuka and Hulk wasn't the badass monster he seemingly was against Cyber Kong. He stall landed some kicks, flying and E.V.O.'s to win the bout.

12:03 of 12:32 - Hulk pinned K-ness after the E.V.O.P.

 

 

April 10, 2010, Hamamatsu - Act City Hamamatsu (700 fans)

 

11. Dragon Kid -vs- Gamma - (King of Gate '10 - Block A - Round 2) [1/2*]

--- Poor Gamma getting upset by Dragon Kid while being well on his way to winning this one. Ok, I'm not sheding any tears for that decision.

3:02 of 12:42 - Dragon Kid pinned Gamma with a schoolboy

 

 

12. Masato Yoshino -vs- Masaaki Mochizuki - (King of Gate '10 - Block A - Round 2) [* 1/4]

--- You could sense this wasn't a match where they were going to give anything extra. It was only a match and one that didn't gain a personality in any way. Disappointing from two such tallents, but one can't win everytime. Yoshino did though with a some weird flash cradle totally taking Mochizuki off guard to beat him.

15:29 of 18:29 - Yoshino pinned Mochizuki modified cradle

 

 

COMMENTS: The first couple of rounds of the King of Gate '10 tournament. Some big matches. Some of ok quality and some disappointing ones.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

AJPW on GAORA TV - April 3, 2010, Kuki City - (2 hrs)

 

 

April 3, 2010, Kuki City Gym (1,800 fans)

 

1. TARU & Minoru -vs- KAI & Yasufumi Nakanoue [1/2*]

--- No one seemed interested in making this good. The main story was rookie Nakanoue trying to show he's eager to fight, but he fight with so little passion it's almost painful to match and with Minoru super low-impact wrestling the experience was complete.....

10:55 of 12:14 - Minoru made Nakanoue submit to a Boston Crab

 

 

2. Kohei Suwama & Shuji Kondo -vs- Minoru Suzuki & NOSAWA Rongai [*]

--- Suwama and Suzuki clashing. Not too exciting, but they made a point out of Suzuki's sleeper being dangerous. We already know that though. We also know that NOSAWA is a loser.....

13:49 of 13:50 - Suwama pinned NOSAWA after a Last Ride powerbomb

 

 

3. Satoshi Kojima & Kaz Hayashi & Super Crazy -vs- Seiya Sanada & Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI [* 1/2]

--- I liked how the younger generation got to look so good. BUSHI showed off his flying as he's getting ready to challenge Hayashi for his AJPW Junior Title on April 11th. Both Sanada and Yamato were giving Kojima a lot of trouble before he decided enough was enough and planted a Western Lariat to knock Yamato down and out.

13:43 of 13:43 - Kojima pinned Yamato after a lariat

 

 

4. KIYOSHI -vs- Rene Dupree - (CC '10 - Block B ) [* 1/4]

--- Almost TNA vs WWE. But now they are All Japan wrestlers starting the Champion Carnical 2010! Sadly this did lack life. It had a story though. That the Voodoo Murders was at ringside to help Dupree when needed. And that had to backfire, didn't it? Yes, chairshot over Dupree's head and KIYOSHI could take him down and land the Muto moonsault to get the first 2 points of the tournament.

11:34 of 11:34 - KIYOSHI pinned Dupree after a moonsault

 

 

5. Masayuki Kono -vs- Ryota Hama - (CC '10 - Block A) [* 3/4]

--- The surprise Triple Crown Champion Hama has a chance to show that he really is championship meterial with this Champion Carnival and to show that the win was no fluke. Gets a tough start though as Kono is one of the strongest rising in the company at the moment having just come off a win over a other former Triple Crown Champion Suwama. And it was lovely to see Kono go all Jumbo on Hama kocking him down with big hard knees. Kono was almost dominant in this match with Hama having one period there where he got to throw his weight around in a wonderful manner as always. He even had nice necklock hooked in for a near submission, but this match belonged to Kono and his knees landing a top rope kneedrop on the nearly unmovable object.

11:14 of 11:14 - Kono pinned Hama after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

6. Masakatsu Funaki -vs- Taiyo Kea - (CC '10 - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- And the main match of the opening day is the 2006 Champion Carnival winner Kea against former Panscase fighter Funaki who's making his tournament debut. And it became a total technical mat based fight. Not very exciting but at the same time a little bit intriguing because Funaki is so good at that game. I'd prefer a bigger climax period, but you sensed the danger once that triangle hold was locked straight away and with Kea being unable to fight out with his efforts the referee had to stop it and award the match to Funaki!

14:40 of 14:40 - Funaki defeated Kea by Referee Stop with a triangle hold

 

 

COMMENTS: Kind of a tame start to the 2010 Champion Carnival. Kono vs Hama had it's moments, otherwise very average wrestling from the lot.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

DDT on Samurai TV - March 12, 27 & 28 & April 4, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

March 12, 2010, Miyaji Ironworks (220 fans)

 

1. Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa © -vs- GENTARO & Michael Nakazawa - (KO-D Tag Title; No-DQ Falls Count Anywhere Match @ Miyaji Iron Works) [* 1/2]

--- Takagi & Sawa decided to have their first defence of the KO-D Tag Title at a steel factory with no ring. And they were wearing their protective gear. Well, only helmets. And this became a very dirty fight and very absurd in a very DDT way. This was like the forest matches they have except at a factory with all kinds of metal and things to climb. Men at work. Or kids at play rather. Biggest spot of them all was Takagi's Stunner off a forklift onto a metal locker! GENTARO did a moonsault off a vending machine. And loads more crazy stuff until Sawa had Michael locked in a Octopus Hold lifted high up on the forklift.

24:43 of 28:38 - Sawa made Nakazawa submit to a Octopus Hold. Takagi & Sawa retain the KO-D Title in their 1st defence.

 

 

nKw3 - March 27, 2010, Musashino Park Special Ring

 

2. Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa © -vs- Kim Yotsugi & Hitori Gundan - (KO-D Tag Title; Ring at a park) [* 1/4]

--- DDT does backyeard wrestling! Takagi & Sawa defending against two people who shouldn't be wrestling. And in a very backyard looking ring. This was happening in a park with over 100 people watching these guys rolling in the grass and mud pretending to do wrestling. Sawa even went for a bicycle ride with his opponent! And who can forget that moment when Sawa ran all the way up the hill to land a Shining Wizard only to miss and roll back down again! Wonderfully insane! Oh, and the champs retain again.

15:48 of 22:22 - Sawa made Hiroti submit to a Octopus Hold. Takagi & Sawa retain the KO-D Title in their 2nd defence.

 

 

FUCK - March 28, 2010, Osaka Wonderland (33 fans)

 

3. Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa -vs- Great Kayser & Hiroaki Moriya - (KO-D Tag Title) [* 1/2]

--- How many matches have you seen end up in a karaoke bar? This FUCK'ing match did. They also ended up in the local playground where Sawa chased a kid down the street! Not to mention a poor old jogger who got himself a shock being surrounded by fighting men and camera people. The match also had to stop for in-coming traffic when they were fighting in the street! Lots of stupid stuff to enjoy like Kayser pumping Sawa's ass....with a pump. They were also in a little arcade where a shy kid was trying to read comics trying not to be disracted that there were half-naked fighting men sitting next to him. And I know it's almost irrelevant, but Sawa won with the Octopus Hold again.

9:47 of 34:56 - Sawa made Kayser submit to a Octopus Hold. Takagi & Sawa retain the KO-D Title in their 3rd defence.

 

 

April 4, 2010, Tokyo - Shinjuku FACE (620 fans)

 

4. MIKAMI -vs- Tanomusaku Toba [1/2*]

--- Finish sprint shown. MIKAMI was mostly the aggressor and won deservingly.

3:07 of 9:32 - MIKAMI pinned Toba with a Dragon Suplex

 

 

5. Dick Togo & Antonio Honda & Sasaki&Gabanna -vs- Danshoku Dino & Hikaru Sato & Keisuke Ishii [3/4*]

--- I don't want to see people getting their face in Dino's ass. I want more Italian Impact! Regardless they all became friends after the match was done. Time to bury the hatchet I guess.....

6:29 of 15:41 - Honda pinned Ishii after a Italian Impact

 

 

6. Daisuke Sekimoto © -vs- Masahiro Takanashi - (KO-D Title) [** 1/2]

--- I've heard great things about this match and was looking forward to seeing how I felt about it as I close to hate Takanashi. And that hate did stop me from getting totally into the drama. His ugly facials with his girly bodylanguage are so damn animated that it's nearly impossible for me to even consider rooting for the guy. And that was very true for this match where he was more expressive then ever before. With that said, this is still by far the best performance I've seem from him. The wrestling was tighter then usual and execution wasn't nearly as weak as he'd usualy do things. The best thing I can say about it was that the structure and story was really great. The leg work of Sekimoto put a different dimention to the champs usual gameplan which was refreshing to see and the way he blocked the cradle driver while up on the turnbuckle was classic before landing a Implant and then the killer German! I only wish someone else then Takanashi was the one in the smaller underdog role. Then maybe I would have loved this.

23:41 of 25:58 - Sekimoto pinned Takanashi with a German Suplex to retain the KO-D Title in his 2nd defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: The hour with absurd KO-D Tag Title defences HAS to be seen! That goes for the best Takanashi match in excitance too.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

DDT on Samurai TV - April 4 & 21, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

April 4, 2010, Tokyo - Shinjuku FACE (620 fans)

 

1. HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata -vs- Yasu Urano & Shigehiro Irie [* 1/4]

--- Solid action with young Hirata suriving what Urano came with and Irie headbutting HARASHIMA hard! That more or less woke HARASHIMA up and he went on to beat Irie up after that.....

5:08 of 11:17 - HARASHIMA pinned Irie after the Somato double-knee attack

 

 

2. Toru Owashi & Yukihiro Abe -vs- KUDO & Takao Soma [3/4*]

--- More decent indy wrestling, but with more insecure fighting from the young lads and the veterans didn't add anything special. One thing, Owashi and Abe did a chokeslam/neckbreaker combination which was kind'a cool. Otherwise Abe won the cradle battle with Soma.

5:46 of 12:16 - Abe pinned Soma with a modified crucifix hold

 

 

3. Kenny Aznable(Omega) & Yago Aznable & Abnormal -vs- Sanshiro Takagi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga & DJ Nira [1/2*]

--- Omega started out as a terrible super hero, but then didn't want to be a freak and turned on his partners. Then DJ Nira having a wonderful day being horrible turned on his partners and stabbed Takagi with some toy claws and then Yago the weirohero made Takagi submit to the classic Cobra Twist. Weird schait man......

8:11 of 8:11 - Yago made Takagi submit to a Cobra Twist

 

 

4. Kota Ibushi -vs- Gedo [* 1/2]

--- DDT vs NJPW! But it's Gedo Ibushi is facing so I wasn't getting excited about this one. And while it was a solid bout it surely didn't ignite much emotion in me. But good for Ibushi defeating the mainsteam junior prick with the Phoenix Splash.

15:05 of 15:07 - Ibushi pinned Gedo after a Phoenix Splash

 

 

April 21, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (292 fans)

 

5. Danshoku Dino © -vs- Yukihiro Abe -vs- Yasu Urano - (Ironman Title; 3-Way) [1/2*]

--- A 10-min Ironman Title match with Dino getting fingrered a lot and walking around the arena with his bare ass probable hoping more people would do that to him. The title switched from Dino to Abe to Urano and back to Abe before Abe started playing hide'n'seek until the time limit expired. But he forgot that it was a 24/7 belt and Dino kissed and Danshoku Drove him to leave as champ again.

6:59 of 10:00 - Abe leave as Ironman Champion

 

 

6. Yago Aznable & Abnormal -vs- Sanshiro Takagi & MIKAMI [1/4*]

--- Michael Nakazawa and Yoshiaki Yago continue being weirdos and winning with back-stabbin'. This time MIKAMI turned on Takagi! That to set up a KO-D Tag Title match between champions Takagi & Sawa and MIKAMI & Toba on the May 4th show.

4:03 of 9:43 - Yago pinned Takagi after hitting him with the Jaburo claw

 

 

7. HARASHIMA & Toru Owashi -vs- Masahiro Takanashi & Keisuke Ishii

--- Only the finishing minute shown as HARASHIMA beats a nobody.....and it wasn't Takanashi....

1:08 of 13:42 - HARASHIMA pinned Ishii after the Somato double-knee attack

 

 

8. Dick Togo & Antonio Honda & Sasaki&Gabbana -vs- Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega & KUDO [* 1/2]

--- A end of an era in DDT. The final Italian 4 Horsemen match! And they go out in style! Fine indy match and a solid win for the long-living group. Positive end.....

11:48 of 17:13 - Togo pinned KUDO after a top rope senton

 

 

COMMENTS: Stupidity with Michael & Yago, but mostly serious indy wrestling on this one. The Italian 4 Horsemen send-off and Ibushi vs Gedo as main highlights.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

SECRET BASE on COMM - April 4, 2010, Osaka - (1 1/4 hrs)

 

 

April 4, 2010, Osaka World Hall (108 fans)

 

1. Skayde Jr & Ferist -vs- Spark Aoki & Blue Bicycle [1/4*]

--- Very dull lucharesu wrestling with Skayde Jr not making justice of his name even if winning.

8:50 of 8:50 - Skayde pinned Bicycle with a modified La Magistral

 

 

2. Kamui & Mototsugu Shimizu -vs- MIYAWAKI & Jun Ogawauchi [*]

--- Ok, at least they are getting things moving in their matches now with Jun back trying to regain some of the reputation he once had. And it's he that's the driving force right now it seems mixing very well with Shimizu dropping him in all types of modified drops. But he's not winning yet. Instead Shimizu did some stupid weak cradle and beat him.

13:27 of 13:27 - Shimizu pinned Ogawauchi with the Chemical Clutch

 

 

3. Kanjyouro Matsuyama -vs- Chango -vs- Ferist - (3-Way) [1/4*]

--- zzz zzz zzz......

16:12 of 16:11 - Matsuyama pinned Ferist after a modified facebuster

 

 

4. GENTARO -vs- Yamada Man Pound [1/2*]

--- Very basic affair that sadly got re-started after a very promising start of ending after just a minute with a chairshot. GENTARO wins both times.

1:09 of 1:09 - GENTARO defeated Yamada by DQ

9:23 of 9:21 - GENTARO made Yamada submit to a Octopus Hold

 

 

5. Takeshi Minaminno & Masaki Okimoto & Manjimaru -vs- Bear Fukuda & Go Sato & Amigo Suzuki [1/2*]

--- Simple and uninspired....again....and Minaminno is one of the worst because he once had potential. Now he just doesn't give a crap. And still gets to rule in Secret Base.

12:01 of 12:01 - Minaminno pinned Suzuki after a Death Valley Driver

 

 

COMMENTS: Nah....I wasn't expecting much either.

 

 

--PUNQ--