Guide to Japanese Wrestling 2010

PUNQ · December 27, 2010

FREEDOMS on COMM - April 4, 2010, Osaka - (1 1/2 hrs)

April 4, 2010, Osaka World Hall (250 fans)

1. Madoka -vs- Go Sato [*]

--- Easy opener of the somewhat lucharesu kind. Not entirely that style, but these two guys come from that background and look and wrestle very much alike. Madoka has done more then what Go has and therefore gets the cradle win.

7:57 of 7:56 - Madoka pinned Go with a crucifix cradle

2. Magnitude Kishiwada & MIYAWAKI -vs- Kankuro Hoshino & Yosuke Takii [* 1/2]

--- Ended up being quite decent as this rather unknown Takii was trying to get noticed to the fans. And he fought off the first slaughter and got himself a nice comeback before it was time to finish the killing with another Last Ride. Fairly standard, but Takii looked more credible then most indy objects getting beat up because of his more bodybuilder body. It looked like he could fight back, if you get me.

14:35 of 14:35 - Kishiwada pinned Ishii after a Last Ride powerbomb

3. Tajiri & Masamune -vs- Ricky Fuji & The Winger [*]

--- Masamune was the most work hungry, but that's not surprising by looking at this line-up. He still couldn't save this from a very ordinary life and only the little things saved this one from grace as few were there to put on a show. And Tajiri was there just to win.

13:59 of 13:58 - Tajiri pinned Winger after a Buzzsaw headkick

4. GENTARO © -vs- Keita Yano - (VKF King of Wrestle Naniwa Title) [3/4*]

--- These two had a dreadful match last year in Apache Pro, and with GENTARO's title matches in Freedoms has been totally lack luster, I didn't go into this one expecting anything good. And that was a smart mindset to go into this bout because it was dead boring. Some ok submission holds, but otherwise not very uninspired traditional wrestling. But it did seem to pick up steam toward the end so I was starting to get into it. Then they got lost. Didn't know what the other guy were doing and fucked up simple moves until GENTARO countered a attack by Yano into a flash cradle pin to retain his belt.

17:54 of 17:54 - GENTARO pinned Yano with a counter cradle to retain the VKF King of Wrestle Naniwa Title in his 7th defence.

5. Takashi Sasaki & Jun Kasai & Kamui -vs- Brahman Kei & Brahman Shu & Ken 45 - (Street Fight) [* 1/2]

--- Lively match as usual when these guys clash together. But there never seem to be much of a gameplan and everything seems so damn random without much purpose then try and fill time. As for what story this match did have was that the heels were well on their way to winning when their leader Great Kojima wanted to join. And as always when the old guy wants to throw powder it goes in his friends face. And that's how the tide turned and a joint team effort made sure Kamui won the match for them. He did however need two tries on the finish as he mostly missed the first attempt at the dave off the ladder.

16:14 of 16:13 - Kamui pinned Kei after a Swanton off a ladder

COMMENTS: Not the best of Freedoms shows. Some fun here and there, but no real highlights.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · December 27, 2010

NJPW on TV ASAHI - April 4, 2010, Tokyo - (2 1/4 hrs)

April 4, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (2,005 fans)

1. Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi -vs- Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Kyosuke Mikami [* 1/2]

--- Tiger Mask found motivation. He could kick the crap out of the new guy! This became a lot more enjoyable then first feared and the fans loved it too as Mikami was shown who's boss. The poor guy did get in a couple of desperation cradles, but was easily put in his place with a Boston Crab.

7:34 of 7:34 - Taguchi made Mikami submit to a Boston Crab

2. Manabu Nakanishi -vs- King Fale - (Fale's Debut) [*]

--- Here is a interesting new debut. A 28 year old guy from Tonga calling himself King Fale....King Fail?! Anyway, he's got good size with the official stats of 193cm and 113kg. Not that it showed to well next to another powerhouse in Nakanishi who's conveniently picked as his debut opponent. And this match was a test to see how much pain Fale could take and if he could give back with the same intensity. Let's just say Nakanishi won the challenges, but Fale didn't look too bad. He also got in a couple of moves. A Samoan Drop and a spear which was what stood out. He also surivived the rookei Boston Crab which means he's a level above the usual rookie. He also tried a Boston Crab on Nakanishi returning the favour! But Nakanishi knows more then this guy and put him in another submission hold. Nakanishi speciality - the Argentine backbreaker. And all he could do was tap to get out of that one.

6:51 of 6:51 - Nakanishi made Fale submit to a Argentine backbreaker

3. Yuji Nagata & Super Strong Machine & Wataru Inoue -vs- Masato Tanaka & Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii [* 1/2]

--- Evenly sharing the spotlight for a fun but not-so-important tag. They were keeping the feud alive as the Blue Justice guys of Nagata fought off the heels as they tried to pull of Machine's mask and answer back with the brutality. But this was a pure Blue Justice asskissing job as they got to look way surperior with Inoue looking was to confident as he won the match.

10:51 of 10:51 - Inoue pinned Gedo after the Oracion Flame

4. Togi Makabe -vs- Tomoaki Honma [* 1/4]

--- Tag partners having a match to establish the already established ranks in the group. Honma is the loser and Makabe is the boss. Nothing was going to change that by having this match except confirm it. Though Honma did get a large part of the offence while this lasted. Including getting in a rolling front cradle type bomb off the turnbuckle. But Makabe once he wanted it over it was over the usual way.....

10:33 of 10:30 - Makabe pinned Honma after a top rope kneedrop

5. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito -vs- Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka & Karl Anderson [* 1/4]

--- The fresh IWGP Tag Champions Yujiro & Naito are really a couple of young punks even taunting their own tag partner and former heavyweight champion Tanahashi refusing to tag him and pushing him off the apron and stuff like that. The real fight was internal. Not against the heel side they were facing. So when Tanahashi won the match for his team having to steal a tag it didn't please the others in the match. Yano turned on Anderson for losing and Naito held Tanahashi so Yano could attack Tanahashi with the chair too. Then the Blue Justice came for the save!

10:26 of 10:25 - Tanahahsi pinned Anderson with a backslide

6. Naomichi Marufuji © -vs- Jushin Liger - (IWGP Junior Title) [*** 1/2]

--- First moment of total awesomeness came at the 10-min mark when Liger countered Marufuji doing his running dropkick from the floor to the apron with a hard Shotei chop! And it just exploded after that with Liger continuing to drop the champion down hard on the floor with a powerbomb and brainbuster before he shifting the aggression inside the ring with more impact moves as the packed Korakuen Hall loving it! Then Marufuji came back and landed a big leeping dropkick over the top rope to the floorside! But Liger wasn't staying down for long and continued to land all the finishers he knew as the fans got more and more crazy! Eventually Liger ran out of ideas and Marufuji still had a bunch of finisher he hadn't used yet and started going though his. Shiranui, moonsaulting Shiranui and what not. But then he came to the new Tiger Frosion. Everyone knew that was the end!

19:36 of 19:36 - Marufuji pinned Liger after the Tiger Frosion to retain the IWGP Junior Title in his 3rd defence.

7. Shinsuke Nakamura © -vs- Hirooki Goto - (IWGP Title) [*** 1/4]

--- A pure battle! The fight was trully on. My main critizism is that it's kind of the same formulas they've used for most of their big matches the last couple of years and little new was added, but don't let that take away from the effort because they were having a motivated battle as they went through everything they had! And Goto looked on point as he went after the champion trying to not let Nakamura slyness get the better of him. But Nakamura is a hard nut to crack and Nakanura did his share of damage even landing the Boma Ye to get himself a breather. Goto continued to drop Nakamura in nasty neck based moves without getting the desired win. Instead Nakamura was as sly as ever and took it home with the now trusted Boma Ye..... After Nakamura had retained they set up the next challenger in Togi Makabe knocking Nakamura down and looking as badass as he could.

19:50 of 19:41 - Nakamura pinned Goto after a Boma Ye kneekick to retain the IWGP Title in his 6th defence.

COMMENTS: Wow, a really good show from New Japan! The undercard matches had something to offer even if they were not classic matches. And the two main event title matches were just awesome! New Japan show that they are the top company in Japan!

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · December 28, 2010

AJPW on GAORA TV - April 4, 2010, Tokyo - (3 hrs)

April 4, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (1,600 fans)

1. Shuji Kondo -vs- Yasufumi Nakanoue [1/2*]

--- Nakanoue does have the strenght and look of a wrestler. Slightly green wrestler, but still looks like a wrestler. But he's not showing it in the ring for some reason. Lets just hope he's a slow grower and one day can live his potential once he gets a grasp why he's there. For now it's ok that Kondo squashes him easy.

7:51 of 7:52 - Kondo made Nakanoue submit to a Boston Crab

2. Super Crazy & BUSHI -vs- Kaz Hayashi & Hiroshi Yamato [*]

--- BUSHI made a point right away that he's able to hurt Hayashi by DDT'ing his face at the corner of the apron. Hayashi felt that one for a while. That was the highlight too as very little else good happend. BUSHI even slipped on the ropes one time to take away even more from their very standard performance. Yamato is back to being a jobber and this time Crazy bombed him down.

10:08 of 10:08 - Crazy pinned Yamato with a modified Ligerbomb

3. TARU & Rene Dupree & Minoru -vs- Masayuki Kono & Shuji Kondo & KAI [*]

--- Only a tag for the Voodoo Muders to look good with Dupree shown that he's taken over the Spiral Bomb as a deadly finisher from Joe Doering who left the company in January.

8:46 of 8:46 - Dupree pinned KAI with a Spiral Bomb

4. Taiyo Kea -vs- KIYOSHI - (CC '10 - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- Too slow at the start to get attention. Just fast-forward to the last couple of minutes or so when the finishers started dropping. KIYOSHI landed the moonsault in Kea's face, but got kicked out of. And then Kea was all aggerssive going through his own finishers until he found one that worked on KIYOSHI.

15:02 of 15:02 - Kea pinned KIYOSHI after the H50

5. Satoshi Kojima -vs- Seiya Sanada - (CC '10 - Block A) [* 3/4]

--- Again only the end really stuck out as something special, though the build up was a little bit more interesting as Sanada was looking good against the superstar. The match nearly exploded with Sanada almost getting the win with a Tiger Suplex and a Japanese leg roll clutch hold, but once Kojima realized the danger.....Western Lariats. Little too easy, in my opinion, as Sanada deserved better then that.

13:53 of 13:54 - Kojima pinned Sanada afte a lariat

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

--- Technique against share power in a stiff battle. Wham! Just look at the brutal slap straight in Suwama's face 5 minutes in! That one got Suwama totally pissed! After a few minutes of payback the match slowed down a bit kind of slowly building a new phase of the match, but we did get moment like Suwama doing a leeping shoulder tackle off the apron so that Funaki crashed his head to the railings. The match started picking up with Funaki locking in the triangle hold he beat Kea with the day before. Wasn't enough to put Suwama away, but it started the fight rolling again with hard blows and all kinds of suplexes and bombs including Suwama landing the Last Ride without being able to make the cover. Funaki wasn't able to come up with anything to beat Suwama with either so this went to a time limit draw. While the match didn't have too much flow, it still felt important and those stand-out moments made the match come alive enough for the 30 minutes not to feel wasted. Good fight, but not perfect.

30:03 of 30:00 - Funaki wrestled Suwama to a 30:00 Time Limit Draw

7. Ryota Hama -vs- Minoru Suzuki - (CC '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- The current Triple Crown Champion Hama against reigning Champion Carnival winner Suzuki. Just look at Suzuki jump on Hama's stomach like a little kid with his trampoline. The rest of the match wasn't so much fun. Mainly Suzuki slowly bullying the big guy. Cool to see Hama block the Gotch-style piledriver by just getting down on his knees. Especially since that left him totally open to some brutal knees to the face from Suzuki. The reigning tournament winner was in total control and didn't do too much with it sadly. And then came the comeback with the Jackhammer starting to weaken Suzuki enough to land bodypresses one after the other for near falls until he hit the 3rd straight bodypress to have Suzuki pinned rather disappointingly.

18:30 of 18:30 - Hama pinned Suzuki after a bodypress

COMMENTS: Rather quiet and far from full Korakuen Hall. That's disappointing considering this is their flagship tour. Not suprising considering last years rather horrible tournament. We did get some big match-ups with Suwama vs Funaki having something to offer. That match saved the show from grace.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · December 28, 2010

AJPW on GAORA TV - April 5, 2010, Niigata - (2 hrs)

April 5, 2010, Niigata City Gym (2,000 fans)

1. Super Crazy & BUSHI -vs- Kaz Hayashi & Yasufumi Nakanoue [3/4*]

--- Only simple opening card action with a little focus on Hayashi and BUSHI before the title match. BUSHI gets to look strong, but he defeated only the weakest one of all in the company.

9:52 of 11:21 - BUSHI made Nakanoue submit to a Mexican Streach

2. TARU & Minoru & Toshizo -vs- KIYOSHI & KAI & Hiroshi Yamato [*]

--- Voodoo Murders mostly out-wrestling the AJPW young guys. Didn't need to cheat much at all actually. Which is rare. Not that babyfaces where helpless. they got their share of the bout, but with Yamato not being in focus anymore he does the job for the 3rd straight night of the tour.

9:18 of 11:50 - Minoru pinned Yamato after a Firebird Splash

3. Minoru Suzuki & Taiyo Kea -vs- Masakatsu Funaki & Shuji Kondo [*]

--- Suzuki and Funaki keeping their feud alive and Gurentai beating the only non-participant of the Cahmpion Carnival as Suzuki piledrove Kondo Gotch-style. Not much more to it.

11:44 of 14:24 - Suzuki pinned Kondo after a Gotch-style piledriver

4. Masayuki Kono -vs- Seiya Sanada - (CC '10 - Block A) [** 1/4]

--- Heard good things about this one and I agree it's a good match. But not nearly as good as I'd been led to belive. A lot of the early portion was just there. Then there was a long period of lim work which was nothing special either. Nice to see that it was competitive as both were going to work weakening the other, but a lot of the work was very 'B-level' formula and just safe and solid wrestling. Not bad in itself, but it wasn't going to go to reach massive hights because of it. And it all boiled down to the final minute as a climax period as Sanada was the most aggressive looking for a win over the more established getting in a Japanese leg roll clutch hold, the German and the Tiger in which the bell rang. A draw out of a pure wrestling match.

29:51 of 30:00 - Kono wrestled Sanada to a 30:00 Time Limit Draw

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

--- Not much of a match for Suwama. Dupree hasn't exactly proven himself to be a big name in Japan yet and was mostly Suwama's bitch in this one. Not even when a bunch of Voodoo Murders came into help Dupree was it enough to stop the powerful wrestler. No, Suwama beat them all and slapped on the ankle hold for the tap. My favourite thing about this match was Dupree's long side-flying splash from the top. That one was cool!

11:18 of 11:18 - Suwama made Dupree submit to a ankle hold

6. Satoshi Kojima -vs- Ryota Hama - (CC '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- Only 2 weeks have passed since Hama took the Triple Crown off Kojima and here they face again in group A of the Champion Carnival. And here they trade back the win. Kojima with his Western Lariats seem pissed and unstoppable. Hama did get a good share of the offence including a running 'stinkface' which almost looked like Kojima's head was going to fall off! But no matter how much weight Hama layed in Kojima wasn't going to take his shit on this day.

12:47 of 12:47 - Kojima pinned Hama after a lariat

COMMENTS: The Kono vs Sanada match was the only match that had anything to offer and it was only a good long house show style bout in execution.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · December 29, 2010

FREEDOMS on COMM - April 6, 2010, Tokyo - (1 1/2 hrs)

April 6, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (224 fans)

1. HIROKI -vs- Takashi Sasaki [1/2*]

--- Former Kaientai Dojo wrestler Hi69 is back and now under the name HIROKI. He seems to have trimmed down his body. Skinnier and more toned. Wrestling wise he didn't have much to offer. It was like he was back to being a glamorized rookie as Sasaki squashed him and had to vebrally demand a fight from the guy. But HIROKI wasn't really having much fighting spirit. GENTARO seemd less then pleased with im and attacked him once the fight was over before lashing out against him on the mic.

10:03 of 10:00 - HIROKI wrestled Sasaki to a 10:00 Time Limit

2. Minoru Fujita & Takuya Sugawara -vs- Ricky Fuji & Keita Yano [*]

--- This was never going to be great, so just enjoy the tiny things like Yano going a little Ricky in there and the thiefs stealing the win.

11:29 of 11:29 - Sugawara pinned Yano with a Jorge Clutch

3. Tajiri & Madoka -vs- Abdullah Kobayashi & Antonio Honda [* 1/4]

--- Honda & Abby teaming~~~~ And Honda battling Tajiri~~~~ Indy trash, but in a good way. Often in a more old school way of wrestling. More a match to just watch then get excited over. Buzzsaw win for Tajiri had to happen against Honda.

13:45 of 13:45 - Tajiri pinned Honda after a Buzzsaw headkick

4. Brahman Kei & Brahman Shu & Ken 45 & Great Kojika & Kazuhiko Ogasawara -vs- Takashi Sasaki & Jun Kasai - (Handicap Elimination) [* 1/4]

--- Weird, awkward and messy. And they managed to do that in one-on-one elemination Gauntlet match. Somewhat fun in a champy way, but hardly great wrestling or very interesting seeing the same stuff over and over with Kojika and his salt, the twins switching places and so on. The heels won by cheating throwing the white stuff, Kojika wasn't the one throwning that one, and a chairshot and Sasaki was dead and pinned by old Kojika. At least the gauntlet matches were short.

7:11 of 7:11 - Kasai & Shu eliminated visa Over The Top Rope

3:31 of 3:29 - Sasaki pinned Kei after a headkick

5:09 of 5:07 - Sasaki eliminated Ken45 via Over The Top Rope

2:06 of 2:06 - Sasaki made Ogasawara submit to a Boston Crab

1:46 of 1:29 - Kojika pinned Sasaki after a chairshot

5. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Masashi Takeda & Magnitude Kishiwada -vs- GENTARO & The Winger & Kamui [* 3/4]

--- Takeda continues to get the push in Freedoms! This time with a clean win over GENTARO using the German Suplex! The match was the usual Freedoms wrestling. Kind of random. Kind of good. Very indy. And with a happy ending.

18:12 of 18:11 - Takeda pinned GENTARO with a German Suplex

COMMENTS: This is what Freedoms is.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · December 29, 2010

AJPW on GAORA TV - April 7, 2010, Fukushima - (2 hrs)

April 7, 2010, Fukushima Athletic Meet Commemoration Gym (1,600 fans)

1. Seiya Sanada -vs- Yasufumi Nakanoue [3/4*]

--- Nakanoue could do nothing but follow as Sanada wrestled beautifully around him.....

6:45 of 7:02 - Sanada made Nakanoue submit to a modified Boston Crab

2. Super Crazy -vs- Toshizo [1/2*]

--- Filler singles match to make the Voodoo Murders look evil as Toshizo got DQ'ed with the help of his friends. This match sets up a extended tag match with Super Crazy and Toshizo joining in the next bout.....

4:32 of 5:40 - Crazy defeated Toshizo by DQ

3. Satoshi Kojima & Super Crazy & KAI -vs- TARU & Minoru & Toshizo [*]

--- Best moment was TARU using the red box and blamed a fan, an older man in a suit, for doing the deed. Other then that this was just an excuse for Kojima to whip Voodoo Murder ass.....

8:27 of 9:58 - Kojima pinned Toshizo after a lariat

4. Kohei Suwama & Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo -vs- Ryota Hama & Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI [* 1/2]

--- Suwama and Hama where doing their heavyweight fighting. Hayashi and BUSHI were doing lucha. Yamato was doing the job...for the 4th straight show on the Champion Carnival tour. And what in hell was Kondo doing there?! Just evening out the sides?

17:08 of 17:08 - Suwama pinned Yamato after the Last Ride powerbomb

5. Rene Dupree -vs- Taiyo Kea - (CC '10 - Block B ) [*]

--- Couldn't get into this double foreigner match much. Dupree had a dangerous Michinoku Driver in there, but that was about it that stuck out for me. And the finish was really bad. A chairshot behind the referees back, and bad schoolboy roll-up with a even bad cover and with the feet on the ropes.

10:04 of 10:15 - Dupree pinned Kea with a schoolboy

6. Masakatsu Funaki -vs- KIYOSHI - (CC '10 - Block B ) [* 1/4]

--- Not sure what to think. Didn't captivate me much. Some of the fighting was solid, but that was about it. What do I remember about the fight after just watching it? That KIYOSHI looked like a cheap-rate copy of Masahiro Chono. Anyway, Funaki wins with his ground style.

15:46 of 15:47 - Funaki made KIYOSHI submit to the cross heel hold

7. Minoru Suzuki -vs- Masayuki Kono - (CC '10 - Block A) [* 3/4]

--- A match with potential, but which didn't deliver too much of it. Kono is still growing and up against a not-so-hungry veteran the result was limited, but I still feel it was the best bout on the show thanks to Suzuki stubborn sleeper style and Kono landing Boma Ye kneekicks as the main excitement. Kono missed his top rope kneedrop and that's when Suzuki's killer instinct came with another sleeper and the Gotch piledriver.

14:40 of 14:40 - Suzuki pinned Kono after a Gotch-style piledriver

COMMENTS: Not a good night for the Champion Carnival.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · December 29, 2010

BJPW on COMM - April 8, 2010, Yokohama - (1 3/4 hrs)

April 8, 2010, Yokohama Nigiwaiza (118 fans)

1. Yuji Okabayashi & Ryuichi Kawakami -vs- Kazuki Hashimoto & Takumi Tsukamoto [3/4*]

--- 2008 rookies against 2009 rookies. And seniority in the ring always wins. Only basic rutine with Okabayashi being what he is in this gang. The strongest.

13:12 of 13:09 - Okabayashi made Hashimoto submit to a Argentine backbreaker

2. Shadow WX & Yuichi Taniguchi -vs- Abdullah Kobayashi & Daikokubo Benkei [1/4*]

--- Silly comedy business with Abby as "Yosuke", a white clown. And this was really grown-ups doing kids TV in front of grown-ups. Really really terrible.

6:52 of 6:53 - Shadow & Taniguchi & Lee Nikkan pinned Kobayashi after a headbutt from Benkei

3. Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa -vs- Shuji Ishikawa & Mototsugu Shimizu - (Bloodshed/Out of Ring Fighting Prohibited) [1/4*]

--- More embarrassing comedy. Beyond embarrassing actually......

0:05 of 0:12 - Ishikawa & Shimizu defeated Kasai & Numazawa by DQ

0:06 of 0:07 - Numazawa pinned Ishikawa after a lariat

10:07 of 10:00 - Kasai pinned Shimizu after a top rope bodypress

4. Ryuji Ito & Daisuke Sekimoto -vs- Takashi Sasaki & Yoshito Sasaki - (Fan Selection Special Tag Match) [* 1/4]

--- The main match on the show and it was a straight forward wrestling match of the very standard kind. Only their usual stuff filling 20 minutes of wrestling ending with a time limit draw.

20:01 of 20:00 - Ito & Sekimoto wrestled Sasaki & Sasaki to a 20:00 Time Limit Draw

5. Ryuji Ito & Lee Nikkan's Wedding Anniversary 18-Person Battle Royal [1/2*]

--- A happy royal with all the wrestlers and referees on the show and Atsushi Ohashi of all people got to be superman nearly eliminating everybody all by himself! Then it came down to him and Lee and naturally Lee had to win on her wedding anniversary! How sweet.....!

7:52 of 9:14 - Lee Nikkan win the Wedding Anniversary 18-Person Battle Royal

COMMENTS: Only a small wedding anniversary wrestling show to celebrate the union of Ryuji Ito & Lee Nikkan.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · December 29, 2010

SENDAI GIRLS on Samurai TV - April 9, 2010, Sendai - (2 hrs)

April 9, 2010, Sendai - Zepp Sendai (600 fans)

1. Ryo Mizunami -vs- Hiroyo Matsumoto - (2nd Battlefield - Round 1) [** 1/4]

--- I really liked this match! They made the most out of their offence and things was well-timed! There was one scary moment in there on a big plancha to the outside as Matsumoto landed high on Mizunami's body who crashed her head hard to the floor. She shaked it off as tough as she is and fight back with authority doing suplexes, legdrops and locking in that shoulder hold to nearly have Matsumoto choked out. Matsumoto on the other hand started out focusing on the stomach busters, but at the later stange she busted out the backdrop suplexes. Miraculously Mizunami survived those and instead got the impressive win catching Matsumoto with a throat slam suplex for the three count.

8:12 of 17:04 - Mizunami pinned Matsumoto after a throat slam suplex

2. Dash Chisako -vs- Sendai Sachiko - (2nd Battlefield - Round 1) [* 1/2]

--- The Kanaris facing. Chisako is a punk and Sachiko is a straight angel. They've trully taken different directions. The battle between sisters was of course and even battle. Sadly not as aggressive as I'd hoped, but solid enough with Sachiko landing a fine moonsault as her highlight. Dash on the other hand landed a Frog Splash to beat her a little too easy.

6:32 of 10:58 - Chisako pinned Sachiko after a top rope bodypress

3. Nanae Takahashi -vs- Hiren - (2nd Battlefield - Round 1) [* 1/2]

--- Much more exciting then first expected. Hiren actually gave as good as she got and Nanae made her look real good as Hiren locked in the ankle hold. It was almost strange watching Nanae close to submitting to this nobodys hold. Hiren also returned the slaps and got in a few cradles to nearly beat the star. But that wasn't going to happen and Nanae used a new finisher for her. A running/jumping kneekick!

6:22 of 6:25 - Takahashi pinned Hiren after a jumping kneekick

4. Aja Kong -vs- Kagetsu - (2nd Battlefield - Round 1) [1/2*]

--- Aja wasn't giving this rookie anything and just knocked her silly.....

2:17 of 2:18 - Kong pinned Kagetsu after a lariat

5. Ryo Mizunami -vs- Toshie Uematsu - (2nd Battlefield - Round 2) [* 3/4]

--- This trully was Mizunami's day! Not only does she beat Matsumoto. She beats veteran Uematsu too! And she gave a good fight too. Uematsu might have been the main aggressor, but Mizunami was outsmarting the cunning old lady! Like catching Uematsu flying off the ropes with a powerslam to so delvier the top rope legdrop for a very close pinfall attempt. The finish was more of the lucky kind as Uematsu tried to surprise the Sendai girl with cradles out of nowhere, Mizunami did the same and somehow got the flash pinfall!

8:33 of 8:34 - Mizunami pinned Uematsu with a cradle

6. Yoshiko Tamura -vs- Dash Chisako - (2nd Battlefield - Round 2) [* 1/2]

--- Tamura squashes are usually really boring. This one was ok. Tamura looked more focused then normal. Not that it was in anyway competitive as it was all about Dash kicking out of Tamura's offence. Dash did get a turnbuckle Frankensteiner, but was otherwise fairly doomed. And the tomb came with the Patriot Bomb.

6:22 of 6:23 - Tamura pinned Chisako after a Patriot Bomb

7. Nanae Takahashi -vs- Kaori Yoneyama - (2nd Battlefield - Round 2) [** 1/4]

--- This was good! A real shame they didn't give it a few more minutes because execution was on point, they went straight forward on attack landing blow for blow in a damn even fight where both getting in some nice moves. Yoneyama's senton and Nanae's jumping low-angle facekick especially. But it was Nanae's new jumping kneekick which became the story as she also beat Yoneyama with it!

7:57 of 7:58 - Takahashi pinned Yoneyama after a jumping kneekick

8. Meiko Satomura -vs- Aja Kong - (2nd Battlefield - Round 2) [**]

--- Legendary rivalry. Oh, and Aja was dominant! Crushing Satomura bit by bit in a slow pace with nasty drops and hard hits. Aja showed she was the freakin' boss! Then Satomura Got a chance going after the arm kicking it and locking in holds. Very different from their other matches which has been Death Valley based. Here Aja landed a Death Valley, but that wasn't Satomura's tactic for this one. I guess she didn't need to. She just had to stay the time limit because of the special rules for the Battlefield tournament is that the lighter wrestler has the advantage in case of a draw. And that ment that Satomura had to fight to survive rather then win. And Aja landed the uraken and what else she could, but no win. And even if Satomura was close with some strange armlocked sleeper she didn't need the submission of pass-out. It was only a good time delayer. And this did go the distance which was slightly a let-down to a otherwise solid match.

20:03 of 20:00 - Satomura defeated Kong because of lesser bodyweight rules after a 20:00 Time Limit

COMMENTS: Why is it that matches look so much better and focused in Sendai Girls then any other joshi promotion? It's so easy to follow the story. Everywhere else it all so damn random. And this was a good show. Both for the younger and the older wrestlers.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · January 4, 2011

AJPW on GAORA TV - April 9, 2010, Osaka - (2 1/2 hrs)

April 9, 2010, Osaka Prefectural Gym #2 (950 fans)

1. Taiyo Kea -vs- Yasufumi Nakanoue [1/2*]

--- Squash of course. What was awesome was that Kea just wanted to kill the rookie using his main finisher the TKO34th to finish him off instead of a standard Boston Crab everyone else have been using on the guy.

7:13 of 7:13 - Kea pinned Nakanoue after the TKO34th

2. Shuji Kondo & Kaz Hayashi -vs- Super Crazy & BUSHI [*]

--- Hayashi and BUSHI working their way to the tour-ender where they'll face for the AJPW Junior Title. They didn't give away too much as it was the other two that fought to the finish with Kondo lariating Crazy bigtime!

11:35 of 11:35 - Kondo pinned Crazy after a lariat

3. Masayuki Kono & KAI & Hiroshi Yamato -vs- TARU & Minoru & Toshizo [*]

--- AJPW vs Voodoo Murders with the usual goodguy vs badguy stuff. Toshizo was the most relevant guy in there as far as the match went. He got in a few finishers, but couldn't beat the young boys. Instead a more established Kono beat him with a top rope kneedrop which barely hit.

11:37 of 11:37 - Kono pinned Toshizu after a top rope kneedrop

4. Masakatsu Funaki -vs- Rene Dupree - (CC '10 - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- More a American style match with outside interference and that kind of thing then the technical affairs Funaki is normally used to. Dupree and his friends was all over him. And then the tide turned and Funaki like a machine did one pro-style finisher after the other in a very mechnical way until he had Dupree beat.

9:12 of 9:12 - Funaki pinned Dupree after a backdrop suplex

5. Ryota Hama -vs- Seiya Sanada - (CC '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- How the hell was Sanada going to handle Hama's weight?! Let's just say he didn't figure it out. He wanted to do Germans and he wanted to do cradles, but it was impossible like on the backslide he couldn't press Hama's shoulders down to the mat because of the heavy body they were attached to. And when Sanada doesn't have any killed moves that doesn't involve lifting or rolling he was easily doomed and it was limited how long he was going to be able to use that speed of his before he was caught. And once Hama had him....he had him!

11:01 of 11:01 - Hama pinned Sanada after a Ryota Hammer

6. KIYOSHI -vs- Kohei Suwama - (CC '10 - Block B ) [**]

--- Suwama absolutely murdered KIYOSHI! The entire freakin' match! One hard clubbing blow and hard suplex after the other. KIYOSHI didn't stand a chance and Suwama was the man. Then Suwama went for the kill. Last Ride. No, he didn't. That's when KIYOSHI woke up countered the move by getting on Suwama's shoulders and rolled Suwama down in a Victory Roll to win it out of nowhere! Wonderful moment!

18:55 of 18:55 - KIYOSHI pinned Suwama with a Victory Roll

7. Minoru Suzuki -vs- Satoshi Kojima - (CC '10 - Block A) [* 3/4]

--- At times it felt they were just having the match for fun. They've met each other too many times I guess so it's not so motivating anymore and they know each other so well that there is only so much they could do with what they have already done before when they don't want to renew themselfs or change their schtik. But don't get me wrong. There is qualities here. They land their normal stuff well and it was sort of like a chessgame. And finally someone who kicks out of the Western Lariat of Kojima! And then it seemed Kojima didn't have anymore plans so Suzuki took over and won from there ending it with the Gotch.

17:57 of 17:57 - Suzuki pinned Kojima after a Gotch-style piledriver

COMMENTS: No real great match on this show either. Only thing really special was KIYOSHI getting the major upset.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · January 4, 2011

AJPW on GAORA TV - April 10, 2010, Nagashima - (2 hrs)

April 10, 2010, Nagashima Citizen Gym (900 fans)

1. Toshizo -vs- Hiroshi Yamato [*]

--- Decent opener, but an opener isn't supposed to be all that special so all-in-all it was just another match where Yamato was destroyed.

7:28 of 9:42 - Toshizo pinned Yamato after a modified fisherman's buster

2. KIYOSHI & BUSHI & Super Crazy -vs- Ryota Hama & Kaz Hayashi & Yasufumi Nakanoue [3/4*]

--- Hama getting suplexed by KIYOSHI & Crazy was cool, but the rest of the match felt very average for a filler tag. BUSHI beats the rookie with a Firebird Splash.

7:08 of 15:41 - BUSHI pinned Nakanoue after a Firebird Splash

3. Masakatsu Funaki & Shuji Kondo & KAI -vs- TARU & Rene Dupree & Minoru [3/4*]

--- Rushed! Yeah, why waste time. Easy fun while it lasted. And Minoru probable learned not to be alone with Funaki....

3:54 of 7:50 - Funaki pinned Minoru after a backdrop suplex

4. Minoru Suzuki -vs- Seiya Sanada - (CC '10 - Block A) [**]

--- I liked this one. Sanada could have a wrestling match with Suzuki. It was a battle of technicalities. Right up Suzuki alley and what Sanada is best at. And Suzuki allowed Sanada to look good so it was a positive experience. My favourite moment was leading up to the finish as Sanada did a Japanese leg roll clutch which Suzuki kicked out of and slapped on the sleeper. Wouldn't have minded if that had been the finish, but Suzuki went on to do the Gotch piledriver to beat Sanada very comfortably.

12:28 of 12:28 - Suzuki pinned Sanada after a Gotch-style piledriver

5. Masayuki Kono -vs- Satoshi Kojima - (CC '10 - Block A) [** 1/4]

--- There were things I didn't like about the build up. It just didn't grab my attention much. But the end got me standing in excitement! After they'd traded kick-out of the lariat and top rope kneedrop it was all about how much Kojima's arm was hurting. Kono had done good damage and started locking Kojima in various armlocks for minutes. Kojima didn't seem to be able to fight out of it so it became more a focus on could he stand the pain until the time limit expired? He kept on screaming and wasn't able to get out of Kono's grip, but he wasn't quitting! Referee Wada was in his face asking him 'Yes?' but Kojima refused as he heard the 3-minute left call. He kept on fighting the pain, but Wada saw he wasn't fighting back and stopped the fight rewarding Kono with the victory and the chance to wrestle in the semi-final of the Champion Carnival ending 2nd in his group after Minoru Suzuki.

27:40 of 27:57 - Kono defeated Kojima by Referee Stop with a cross-armbreaker

6. Kohei Suwama -vs- Taiyo Kea - (CC '10 - Block B ) [**]

--- Funaki has already won the group by a lage margin ending his series with 7 points. Here both guys have a chance to go through as Kea has 2 and Suwama her 3. Both need to win or else KIYOSHI with his 4 points is on to the semis. Kea beat KIYOSHI so he'll pass him if he gets 4 points. Suwama lost to KIYOSHI so a draw isn't enough. That meant another long slow building match. This also had lim work as Suwama focusing on Kea's bad knee working over it a long time in between throwing him around. Turning point for Kea was his sleeper suplex which hurt Suwama's neck and Kea could take over the offensive part landing some fine spots to create some excitement. Didn't last too long before Suwama was back to the leg and throwing him around again. And this time there was no fighting back and Kea was brutally beaten.

22:56 of 22:56 - Suwama pinned Kea after a Last Ride powerbomb

COMMENTS: One of the better nights of the Champion Carnival, but it had to be as it was the group decider night where the final results would come as to who would go to the semis. Still there was something missing to make the matches great.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · January 4, 2011

NOAH on G+SN - April 10, 2010, Tokyo - (3 1/4 hrs)

April 10, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (2,100 fans)

1. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin -vs- Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara & Satoshi Kajiwara [* 1/4]

--- Easy opener with Marvin doing the work and the Kensuke Office guys going the job.

12:33 of 12:34 - Marvin pinned Kajiwara after a leg-hook DDT

2. Keith Walker & Jason Jones -vs- Akitoshi Saito & Atsushi Aoki [*]

--- 21 year old WLW Jason Jones making his NOAH debut. He was nothing special at all. No look and no special tallent. He made me miss Dakota or Bob Fish. The main focus of interest was Aoki taunting big Walker and getting caught and beat up....

13:36 of 13:37 - Walker pinned Aoki with a neck-hanging bomb

3. Bison Smith & Delirious -vs- Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Masao Inoue [*]

--- Delirious was a funny character in there being very anti-NOAH in his approach which got the laughs. As far as wrestling goes this had little to offer compared to the weirdness. But we did have Delirious beat the GHC Junior Champion! With a little help from Bison who Styles Clashed Kanemaru before Deliriouis was able to finish the job. And on April 25th the two face for the title!

10:05 of 10:06 - Delirious pinned Kanemaru with the Bizarro Driver

4. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano -vs- Takashi Sugiura & Shuhei Taniguchi [* 3/4]

--- Brutal, for sure. Exciting, not really. Kind of a long match with the hard blows coming at a sporadic pace with little else added of drama. Which is fine, but they didn't need the match to last 20 minutes. It could easily have been just as good or better at half the lenght. Takayama was going to send Taniguchi to Everest no matter anyway.

20:09 of 20:06 - Takayama pinned Taniguchi with a German Suplex

5. Naomichi Marufuji -vs- Go Shiozaki [** 1/4]

--- Big singles match on the midcard as two former GHC Heavyweight Champions meet. Two that can be considered the top guys of the current generation. So expectations were high and they delivered on some of it. There was still some shakey bits like the spot where Go was supposed to chop the ringpost as Marufuji was moving away. They tried it twice and fucked it up twice. That looked stupid. But they got a decent buzz out of the match anyway because the fans wanted it to be good. And Go landed some nice lariats and a wonderful moonsault without being able to put Marufuji away. Instead Marufuji got in some kind of Tiger Frosion move into a cross-armbreaker. And soon the leg with locked in too and the referee stopped it giving Marufuji the win!

15:40 of 15:40 - Marufuji defeated Shiozaki by Referee Stop with the modified cross-armbreaker

--- Morishima & Ishimori bringing the Mexican AAA Tag Title home to Japan to defend them in NOAH. And first challengers were kind of easy since it featured Genba. Genba started fresh and did tried to be a cunning little prick, but he had to be squashed! Loved the assisted bodypress Genba got when Ishimori jumped on Morishima's back for extra impact. But there wasn't too many highlight here as one could have hoped for in a Morishima or Ishimori match. Regardless they keep the belts as Ishimori landed the 450 splash on Genba.

12:00 of 12:00 - Ishimori pinned Hirayanagi after a Firebird Splash. Morishima & Ishimori retain the AAA Tag Title.

7. Mohammed Yone -vs- Toshiaki Kawada - (Global League '10 - Block B ) [* 1/4]

--- A bore draw is what one would call it. 30 minutes of nearly nothing standing out or either guy going for a win before it was too late. Only a Kawada powerbomb on the floor registered with me. As you can guess they saved the finishers for the last two minutes with Yano landing a top rope legdrop, a hard headkick and the Muscle Buster with Kawada kicking passionless out. In return Kawada landed a brutal brainbuster seconds before the time limit expired, but that was only a mild comfort to an otherwise meaningless fight. Not the best use of Kawada and wasn't like he was motivated working with someone like Yone.

30:00 of 30:00 - Yone wrestled Kawada to a 30:00 Time Limit Draw

8. Kensuke Sasaki -vs- Jun Akiyama - (Global League '10 - Block A) [***]

--- Finally something the cheer about! Akiyama vs Sasaki. Years ago that'll guarantee something big. In 2010 one can only hope and they had a motivated battle. Heavyweight battle of two different styles. Sasaki we all know is the master of slugfests while Akiyama is more of the chessplayer, but in many ways Sasaki out-smarted the NOAH wrestler by going all Misawa on him! For some reason Sasaki started making am major point out of elbow smashes. Hard and presice elbow smashes. Each one knocked Akiyama down with authority. Akiyama in return had secure front necklock to stabilize the situation and cut the blood to Sasaki's brain. Akiyama was more about the little tricks, but did get in the Exploder to get another breather. But Sasaki also has the Northern Light Bomb. Not that he got to finish it wife-style. No, but he did it Choshu-style!

18:41 of 18:19 - Sasaki pinned Akiyama after a running lariat

COMMENTS: Good show for the Sasaki vs Akiyama and Shiozaki vs Marufuji, but the rest didn't really offer much.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · January 4, 2011

NOAH di COLLOSEO on G+SN - March 26 & April 10, 2010 PART 1 - (2 hrs)

March 26, 2010, Chiba Park Gym (1,000 fans)

--- The challengers was barely competitive! Rikio & Yano bulldozed over the former bullies making it the bullies getting bullied instead! Sure there was some offensive parts for the BML faction, but it was mainly the NOAH stars who beat them down. But you got to love Murakami's low-blow on Yone and the little squeel that came from it! But no. There was little Murakami or Usuda could do to stop Yone from stiffing them and Rikio to run them down. And when the Muso landed the champs had retained.

17:58 of 18:00 - Rikio pinned Usuda after the Muso slam. Rikio & Yano retain the GHC Tag Title in their 2nd defence.

April 10, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (2,100 fans)

2. Mohammed Yone -vs- Toshiaki Kawada - (Global League '10 - Block B ) [* 1/4]

--- A bore draw is what one would call it. 30 minutes of nearly nothing standing out or either guy going for a win before it was too late. Only a Kawada powerbomb on the floor registered with me. As you can guess they saved the finishers for the last two minutes with Yano landing a top rope legdrop, a hard headkick and the Muscle Buster with Kawada kicking passionless out. In return Kawada landed a brutal brainbuster seconds before the time limit expired, but that was only a mild comfort to an otherwise meaningless fight. Not the best use of Kawada and wasn't like he was motivated working with someone like Yone.

30:00 of 30:00 - Yone wrestled Kawada to a 30:00 Time Limit Draw

3. Kensuke Sasaki -vs- Jun Akiyama - (Global League '10 - Block A) [***]

--- Finally something the cheer about! Akiyama vs Sasaki. Years ago that'll guarantee something big. In 2010 one can only hope and they had a motivated battle. Heavyweight battle of two different styles. Sasaki we all know is the master of slugfests while Akiyama is more of the chessplayer, but in many ways Sasaki out-smarted the NOAH wrestler by going all Misawa on him! For some reason Sasaki started making am major point out of elbow smashes. Hard and presice elbow smashes. Each one knocked Akiyama down with authority. Akiyama in return had secure front necklock to stabilize the situation and cut the blood to Sasaki's brain. Akiyama was more about the little tricks, but did get in the Exploder to get another breather. But Sasaki also has the Northern Light Bomb. Not that he got to finish it wife-style. No, but he did it Choshu-style!

18:41 of 18:19 - Sasaki pinned Akiyama after a running lariat

COMMENTS: The April 10 matches can also be found on the full version of that show, but this one have the GHC Tag Title match from March 26 which didn't air on any other TV version.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · January 4, 2011

NOAH di COLLOSEO on G+SN - March 26 & April 10, 2010 PART 2 - (2 hrs)

March 26, 2010, Chiba Park Gym (1,000 fans)

1. Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin -vs- Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi [* 1/2]

--- Since we're in Kaientai Dojo territory the K-Dojo team on Oishi & Asahi gets to face the GHC Junior Tag Champions in a non-title bout. Oishi & Asahi is a tallented team, but this bout didn't bring out the best in them. Well, NOAH isn't exactly the best place for an outsider to look good unless it's a national star and that they are not. They did get to trouble the champs a little with Oishi's Miracle Ecstacy being the closest they got. Then Marvin & Ishimori got their act together and beat Oishi up with a series of moves and ended it with a Firebird.

15:48 of 15:48 - Ishimori pinned Oishi with the Firebird Splash

April 10, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (2,100 fans)

2. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano -vs- Takashi Sugiura & Shuhei Taniguchi [* 3/4]

--- Brutal, for sure. Exciting, not really. Kind of a long match with the hard blows coming at a sporadic pace with little else added of drama. Which is fine, but they didn't need the match to last 20 minutes. It could easily have been just as good or better at half the lenght. Takayama was going to send Taniguchi to Everest no matter anyway.

20:09 of 20:06 - Takayama pinned Taniguchi with a German Suplex

3. Naomichi Marufuji -vs- Go Shiozaki [** 1/4]

--- Big singles match on the midcard as two former GHC Heavyweight Champions meet. Two that can be considered the top guys of the current generation. So expectations were high and they delivered on some of it. There was still some shakey bits like the spot where Go was supposed to chop the ringpost as Marufuji was moving away. They tried it twice and fucked it up twice. That looked stupid. But they got a decent buzz out of the match anyway because the fans wanted it to be good. And Go landed some nice lariats and a wonderful moonsault without being able to put Marufuji away. Instead Marufuji got in some kind of Tiger Frosion move into a cross-armbreaker. And soon the leg with locked in too and the referee stopped it giving Marufuji the win!

15:40 of 15:40 - Marufuji defeated Shiozaki by Referee Stop with the modified cross-armbreaker

--- Morishima & Ishimori bringing the Mexican AAA Tag Title home to Japan to defend them in NOAH. And first challengers were kind of easy since it featured Genba. Genba started fresh and did tried to be a cunning little prick, but he had to be squashed! Loved the assisted bodypress Genba got when Ishimori jumped on Morishima's back for extra impact. But there wasn't too many highlight here as one could have hoped for in a Morishima or Ishimori match. Regardless they keep the belts as Ishimori landed the 450 splash on Genba.

12:00 of 12:00 - Ishimori pinned Hirayanagi after a Firebird Splash. Morishima & Ishimori retain the AAA Tag Title.

COMMENTS: The April 10 matches can also be found on the full version of that show, but this one have the NOAH vs Kaientai Dojo match from March 26 which didn't air on any other TV version.

--PUNQ--

PUNQ · January 4, 2011

NOAH di COLLOSEO on G+SN - April 10 & 13, 2010 - (2 hrs)