Guide to Japanese Wrestling 2010

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Ice Ribbon on COMM - July 14 & 17, 2010, Warabi City - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 14, 2010, Warabi City Isami Wrestle Budokan

 

1. Tsukasa Fujimoto -vs- Sayaka Obihiro [1/2*]

--- Machine-gun ground chest chops! That was quite cool from Obihiro. But otherwise this was a rather basic basic bout going nowhere. The former ICEX60 Champion wins with a top rope dropkick.

8:51 of 8:48 - Fujimoto pinned Obihiro after a top rope dropkick

 

 

2. Natsuki*Taiyo & Miyako Matsumoto -vs- Makoto & Hamuko Hoshi [1/2*]

--- Natsuki and Makoto in a bitch slappin' contest was fun, but the match wasn't much to brag about. Only clowning around a little mixing some wrestling in and then cradle finish out of nowhere.

10:44 of 10:43 - Natsuki pinned Hoshi with a La Magistral

 

 

3. Chii Tomiya -vs- Jun Kasai - (Tomiya only needs 1-count) [1/4*]

--- Jun Kasai lost to a giiiiirl! Kasai lost to a giiirl! She only needed one count and that's what she got when Kasai was stupid enough to try his own version of his tag partners Mama Mia splash and missed.....

7:02 of 7:01 - Tomiya pinned Kasai with a Gedo Clutch

 

 

4. Emi Sakura -vs- Hikaru Shida [3/4*]

--- A rather boring wrestling lesson which got half-exciting because of the over-push of Shida as Sakura tried to make Shida look as credible as possible. She go a bunch of near falls before Sakura decided enough was enough and ended it Tiger Driver style.

15:59 of 15:58 - Sakura pinned Shida with a Tiger Driver

 

 

July 17, 2010, Warabi City Isami Wrestle Budokan

 

5. Riho & Kurume -vs- Hamuko Hoshi & Tsukushi [1/2*]

--- Kids playing around with wrestling. Where are their parents? Either way they had enough fun for some of it to catch me with Riho getting to be the princess of the match beating the old one in the match.

10:44 of 10:42 - Riho pinned Hoshi with the Somato double-knee attack

 

 

6. Chii Tomiya -vs- Miyako Matsumoto [1/4*]

--- I'm not getting into Tomiya matches. She might have already beaten Jun Kasai with the Gedo Clutch and now Kasai's tag partner Matsumoto with the same hold, but I don't really care.....

6:14 of 6:13 - Tomiya pinned Matsumoto with the Gedo Clutch

 

 

7. Kazumi Shimouma -vs- Makoto -vs- Tsukasa Fujimoto - (3-Way) [1/4*]

--- Boring and bad 3-way which Shimouma won countering Fujimoto's special flying cradle.

8:21 of 8:19 - Shimouma pinned Fujimoto with a cradle counter

 

 

8. Natsuki*Taiyo & Hikari Minami -vs- Emi Sakura & Hikaru Shida [1/2*]

--- Grown ups playing around with wrestling. Shida got to look good again, but ended up losing running into a suplex rom Minami. Nothing of interest here.

14:04 of 14:01 - Minami pinned Shida with a Capture Suplex Hold

 

 

COMMENTS: Small Ice Ribbon shows which, speaking for my own fandom, are more damaging then good.

 

 

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FREEDOMS on COMM - July 15, 2010, Tokyo - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

July 15, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (195 fans)

 

1. Brahman Kei & Brahman Shu & Ken45 -vs- GENTARO & The Winger & Ricky Fuji [* 1/2]

--- The show starts off on a energetic note as the Hell Demons fight off the cool cult hero guys. GENTARO was actually doing a lot of good, but the twins stopped him by blowing black mist in his face as he was having the Scorpion Death Lock locked in and then Shu landed the Zombie Killer making the job very easy for Kei who Buzzsaw'ed GENTARO for the pin.

11:01 of 10:58 - Kei pinned GENTARO after a headkick

 

 

2. Kazuhiko Ogasawara -vs- Shinobu - (3x10R) [1/2*]

--- Ogasawara matches is usually the low point of Freedoms shows and even with the more MMA oriented 3-min round system it wasn't going to save anyone from this being a stinker. 3rd round knock out by Ogasawara finally making a comeback and winning easy.

7:14 of 6:45 - Ogasawara defeated Shinobu by TKO 0:45 of the 3rd Round after a high headkick

 

 

3. Takuya Sugawara -vs- Keita Yano [* 1/4]

--- Expecting the worst, was slightly surprised in a positive direction. It became a total battle of creative holds and cradles which I guess was the best way to do this throw-away match. And Sugawara with his lucha background knows a few more things then Yano and beat him at the cradle war.

10:24 of 10:22 - Sugawara pinned Yano with a Mexican Roll cradle

 

 

4. Onryo & Antonio Honda -vs- HIROKI & Madoka [3/4*]

--- A little too playful ending with HIROKI's running knee getting blocked with a fire extinguisher before getting rolled up by Onryo.

14:21 of 14:20 - Onryo pinned HIROKI with the Onryo Clutch

 

 

5. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Masashi Takeda -vs- Mammoth Sasaki & Kamui [**]

--- Is it Kamui's time to get the push in Freedoms now? Well, he got a lot of focus getting a serious tough beating from Takaiwa who dropped everything hard down on themasked dude. Of the things that stood out was the top rope elbow drop, the finishing Death Valley, but most of all the MDII straight down on the neck! Poor Kamui, but the fans ate it up! And with Mammoth by his side they made sure it was Kamui's team they wanted to cheer for.

14:25 of 14:25 - Takaiwa pinned Kamui after a Death Valley Bomb

 

 

6. GENTARO & Magnitude Kishiwada & Abdullah Kobayashi -vs- Takashi Sasaki & Jun Kasai & Great Sasuke [* 3/4]

--- Sasuke is a total crazy man now. Is he totally living his rock'n'roll gimmick now all stoned out of his mind of sex, drugs and wrestling?! He even attacked his own partner in there. I'm not sure if he realized it or not, but Sasaki had to tell him during the match that they were on the same side! The fans laughed hysterically at Sasuke's weird antics. The others brought more the action wrestling to cover up for the old broken down junior heavyweight legend and GENTARO didn't want to lose twice on this night and managed to roll Kasai up for the pin.

17:26 of 16:34 - GENTARO pinned Kasai with a headscissor cradle

 

 

COMMENTS: Fun show for the most part. Freedoms are starting to create a happy vibe over their product.

 

 

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KENSUKE OFFICE on Samurai TV - July 17 & 19, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 17, 2010, Gifu Chamber of Commerce Hall (817 fans)

 

1. Magnitude Kishiwada & Big Murakami -vs- Takashi Okita & Satoshi Kajiwara [* 3/4]

--- Good little tag with Kajiwara starting to stand out as a performer after joining Kensuke Office doing well against the nasty beaters before getting the trashing he probable deserved with Murakami laying in the finishing touches kicking his chest in hard!

10:54 of 12:26 - Murakami pinned Kajiwara after a bodykick

 

 

2. Katsuhiko Nakajima -vs- Taishi Takizawa [* 1/2]

--- Nakajima against Kaientai Dojo raised Takizawa for a decent energetic fight. Can't say I bought into it completely. Takizawa is a lacking a lot in his game even if he is fairly tall. He just doesn't use that to his advantage and instead goes around running like a little kid while fighting. Needless to say Nakajima didn't have too many problems beating him.

10:05 of 10:05 - Nakajima pinned Takizawa with a German Suplex

 

 

3. Kensuke Sasaki & Kento Miyahara -vs- Yutaka Yoshie & Go Sato [* 3/4]

--- Fun fight with young Miyahara getting to suplex big Yoshie and stuff like that. The match never took off completely, but the fans seemed pleased regardless. Why they needed Go there I don't know. I guess they needed someone Miyahara could be competitive with, but when he was competitive with Yoshie the only use for Go was for him to be Sasaki'a batting boy.

14:43 of 21:18 - Sasaki pinned Go after a Northern Light Bomb

 

 

July 19, 2010, Hakata Star Lane (1,819 fans)

 

4. Magnitude Kishiwada & Big Murakami -vs- Takashi Okita & Taishi Takizawa [**]

--- All about Murakami being a mean bastard! And poor Okita really got to feel the punishment! So much that the referee had to stop it as Murakami was laying in the punches! Solid tag bout. Might have lacked something to take it to the next level, but still entertaining enough.

14:32 of 14:00 - Murakami defeated Okita by Referee Stopp after face punches

 

 

5. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kento Miyahara & Satoshi Kajiwara -vs- Masaaki Mochizuki & Super Shisa & Mentai*Kid [** 1/2]

--- A happening tag with the Kensuke boys taking on the Dragon Gate affiliates. And this time it was Miyahara's turn to shine kicking out of about thousand cradle attempts by Shisa and then beat him with a German! Good for Mitahara to get a solid victory like that! The energy was on. The impact a little light, but overall a very enjoyable match.

16:35 of 16:35 - Miyahara pinned Shisa with a German Suplex

 

 

6. Kensuke Sasaki -vs- Yutaka Yoshie [** 1/4]

--- The final minutes was naturally the good part with Yoshie having a runing bloody nose and kicking out of Sasaki's hard lariat and stuff like that, but for me too much of the wrestling that was leading up to that was just boring and most of the match felt uneventful. It was just draged out so they could pass the 20-min mark when it'd probable be a lot better at half the lenght and they didn't have to waste that much time on so little.

22:10 of 22:11 - Sasaki pinned Yoshie after a Northern Light Bomb

 

 

COMMENTS: Solid shows from Kensuke Office getting help from Murakami, Yoshie and Dragon Gate to give us some interesting matches.

 

 

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DOVE PRO on COMM - July 18, 2010, Hiroshima - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 18, 2010, Hiroshima

 

1. Kitai Kubo -vs- Hikaru Michimoto [* 1/4]

--- Kageki Pro wrestler Kubo can be good at these kind of squashes as he goes all in to destroy his opponent. And it made me happy that he did that to Michimoto.....

7:15 of 7:14 - Kubo pinned Michimoto after a top rope senton

 

 

2. Yohei Hayata -vs- Mighty Guy Akira [*]

--- Never a very interesting match. Akira had trained himself up and was trying to be taken seriously, but he's not all there yet and was beat by a headkicking Hayata.

10:07 of 10:12 - Hayata pinned Akira after a single-foot dropkick

 

 

3. Mentai Kid -vs- Yuji Maeda [*]

--- Squash with Mentai Kid having very few problems taking care of Yuji at all. At least what Mentai Kid did looked good, but it was never a exciting bout.

12:41 of 12:42 - Mentai made Maeda submit to a modifed single legcrab/surfboard

 

 

 

4. Susumu & Seiki & Yosuke Shiranami -vs- Kabuki Kid & Rey Paloma & Shoichi Uchida - (Elimination) [* 3/4]

--- Mostly prettyboy indy action. Few leaders making it a fairly standard affair, but it had it's cool moments and nice moves under the music and energy making it easy to digest. Highlight has got to be Kabuki signaling to cut the music and then delivering a headbutt nearly creating a echo in the arena! But this ended up being Susumu's night beating all three on the other team including the Dove Pro Champion Uchida to win the match for his team!

13:40 - Kabuki pinned Shiranami after a top rope senton

15:45 - Susumu pinned Kabuki after a springboard bodypress

17:52 - Uchida pinned Seiki after a Styles Clash

21:45 - Susumu pinned Paloma after a Fire Thunder piledriver

22:14 of 22:57 - Susumu pinned Uchida with a huracanrana

 

 

5. Takashi Sasaki -vs- Sakigake - (Barbed Wire Board Death Match) [* 1/2]

--- Dove Pro's main character Sakigake gets to look half-competitive with one of the most established hardcore indy workers around. And in a hardcore environment with the barbed wire boards being the dangerzone. It's a little hard to get into little Sekigake as a threat, but at least they tried and it almost worked. But naturally Sekigake was going to get his face kicked in, and with barbed wire too!!!

15:03 of 15:04 - Sasaki pinned Sakigake after a barbed wire board headkick

 

 

COMMENTS: Fairly average show. It had the hardcore and music for the two important bouts, but there was little that really took off or turned this into a memorable show.

 

 

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JWP on Samurai TV - July 18, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 18, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (829 fans)

 

1. Hikari Minami -vs- Moon Mizuki - (Mizuki's Debut) [3/4*]

--- Another rookie. Moon Mizuki! The way she looks she'll more likely become a comedy character then a good wrestler. This match however was straight rookie action with a Ice Ribbon girl. Not too impressive but the fans seemed to get into Moon before she lost.

4:52 of 5:47 - Minami pinned Mizuki with the Blockbuster Hold

 

 

2. Commando Bolshoi -vs- Emi Sakura [3/4*]

--- Best thing about this one was Sakura pushing the Great Kabuki and getting a Kabuki punch! Otherwise they attempted a technical bout with cradles and stuff like that, but I must say it wasn't very good technical wrestling. Bolshoi pulled out a Sakura speical to win with she used the La Magistral on her.

6:22 of 8:31 - Bolshoi pinned Sakura with a La Magistral

 

 

3. Kaoru Ito & Ayako Sato & Hanako Kobayashi & Tomoko Morii -vs- Kayoko Haruyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Megumi Yabushita & Keito [* 1/2]

--- Chaotic 8-woman tag with Ito ruling it all getting thrown around and throwing others around. She really was the boss of this one and guided her pupils well. So well that Kobayashi of all people scored an upset over former JWP Champion Kuragaki! It was in no way a pretty match and a few minutes before the end it was real terrible with everyone missing their spots, but it had spirit most of the time.

8:04 of 19:24 - Kobayashi pinned Kuragaki with a horizontal cradle

 

 

4. Aja Kong -vs- Tojuki Leon [** 1/4]

--- Fun watching Leon land a series of nice hard moves on her old ARSION mentor. Springboard dive out of the ring, Spider German and top rope senton were some of the highlights. Aja woke up from all that and returned the pain with brainbuster, elbow off the top and backfists. Leon kicked out of a lot, but not when the pin-point uraken came! Good straight to the point battle!

9:23 of 12:05 - Kong pinned Leon after a uraken

 

 

5. Toshie Uematsu & Kazuki © -vs- Ran Yu Yu & Sachie Abe - (JWP/Daily Sports Women's Tag Titles) [*]

--- It was like they didn't take the match serious. Half the twist was that they were mixed up as regular tag partners. Both Kazuki & Abe and Ran & Uematsu are longterm partners so the hate between them wasn't there instead it weird for them. And when the wrestling on top of that was weak then we had a unengaging match in which the champs retained in an also flat manner.

15:15 of 15:15 - Kazuki pinned Abe after the Prince's Throne. Uematsu & Kazuki retain the JWP/Daily Sports Women's Tag Titles in their 5th defence.

 

 

6. Nanae Takahashi © -vs- Kaori Yoneyama - (JWP Title) [** 3/4]

--- The lovely Yoneyama~~~ Finally getting her big moment! One of the most charming creatures on the joshi scene beats Nanae with a turnbuckle version of her U.S.-ZOU driving cradle! It was so great to see a fired up Yoneyama do all she could to beat the unbeatable. And the U.S.-ZOU was the main story at the end with Yoneyama going for it several times getting blocked at first and also countered by Nanae who blocked the swing and delviered an Implant instead. Yoneyama did eventually land it, but Nanae kicked out. And that's where the avalanche came in to play. The ultimate version driving Nanae hard down for the pin and super happy JWP moment!

20:50 of 20:54 - Yoneyama pinned Takahashi after a second rope Yoshitonic to become the 15th JWP Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: A fairly good show with a few misses. Wish they'd done more with the tag title bout, but it doesn't matter. Yoneyama in the main event made up for it in her crazy ways. This is the TV version.

 

 

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JWP on COMM - July 18, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 18, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (829 fans)

 

1. Hikari Minami -vs- Moon Mizuki - (Mizuki's Debut) [3/4*]

--- Another rookie. Moon Mizuki! The way she looks she'll more likely become a comedy character then a good wrestler. This match however was straight rookie action with a Ice Ribbon girl. Not too impressive but the fans seemed to get into Moon before she lost.

5:47 of 5:47 - Minami pinned Mizuki with the Blockbuster Hold

 

 

2. Commando Bolshoi -vs- Emi Sakura [3/4*]

--- Best thing about this one was Sakura pushing the Great Kabuki and getting a Kabuki punch! Otherwise they attempted a technical bout with cradles and stuff like that, but I must say it wasn't very good technical wrestling. Bolshoi pulled out a Sakura speical to win with she used the La Magistral on her.

8:32 of 8:31 - Bolshoi pinned Sakura with a La Magistral

 

 

3. Kaoru Ito & Ayako Sato & Hanako Kobayashi & Tomoko Morii -vs- Kayoko Haruyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Megumi Yabushita & Keito [* 1/2]

--- Chaotic 8-woman tag with Ito ruling it all getting thrown around and throwing others around. She really was the boss of this one and guided her pupils well. So well that Kobayashi of all people scored an upset over former JWP Champion Kuragaki! It was in no way a pretty match and a few minutes before the end it was real terrible with everyone missing their spots, but it had spirit most of the time.

19:25 of 19:24 - Kobayashi pinned Kuragaki with a horizontal cradle

 

 

4. Aja Kong -vs- Tojuki Leon [** 1/4]

--- Fun watching Leon land a series of nice hard moves on her old ARSION mentor. Springboard dive out of the ring, Spider German and top rope senton were some of the highlights. Aja woke up from all that and returned the pain with brainbuster, elbow off the top and backfists. Leon kicked out of a lot, but not when the pin-point uraken came! Good straight to the point battle!

12:05 of 12:05 - Kong pinned Leon after a uraken

 

 

5. Toshie Uematsu & Kazuki © -vs- Ran Yu Yu & Sachie Abe - (JWP/Daily Sports Women's Tag Titles) [*]

--- It was like they didn't take the match serious. Half the twist was that they were mixed up as regular tag partners. Both Kazuki & Abe and Ran & Uematsu are longterm partners so the hate between them wasn't there instead it weird for them. And when the wrestling on top of that was weak then we had a unengaging match in which the champs retained in an also flat manner.

15:15 of 15:15 - Kazuki pinned Abe after the Prince's Throne. Uematsu & Kazuki retain the JWP/Daily Sports Women's Tag Titles in their 5th defence.

 

 

6. Nanae Takahashi © -vs- Kaori Yoneyama - (JWP Title) [** 3/4]

--- The lovely Yoneyama~~~ Finally getting her big moment! One of the most charming creatures on the joshi scene beats Nanae with a turnbuckle version of her U.S.-ZOU driving cradle! It was so great to see a fired up Yoneyama do all she could to beat the unbeatable. And the U.S.-ZOU was the main story at the end with Yoneyama going for it several times getting blocked at first and also countered by Nanae who blocked the swing and delviered an Implant instead. Yoneyama did eventually land it, but Nanae kicked out. And that's where the avalanche came in to play. The ultimate version driving Nanae hard down for the pin and super happy JWP moment!

20:50 of 20:54 - Yoneyama pinned Takahashi after a second rope Yoshitonic to become the 15th JWP Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: A fairly good show with a few misses. Wish they'd done more with the tag title bout, but it doesn't matter. Yoneyama in the main event made up for it in her crazy ways. This is the Commercial version with unedited matches.

 

 

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NEO on COMM - July 18, 2010, Iruma City - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

July 18, 2010, Iruma City Minamimine Seishin Industry Transportation Special Ring (743 fans)

 

1. Takako Inoue -vs- Makoto [3/4*]

--- Takako squashing and playing around with Makoto, that's all, with Makoto getting a little comeback before the squash was complete.

10:49 of 10:50 - Inoue pinned Makoto after a uraken

 

 

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

--- Mixed match with a caveman, a masked lady and a couple of midgets. Comedy hell....

10:43 of 10:50 - Buddhaman pinned Ota by sitting on him

 

 

3. Hiroyo Matsumoto -vs- Eiger [1/4*]

--- All about Matsumoto being scared of ghosts and overcoming those fears....exactly what I want my wrestling to be about.

9:48 of 9:50 - Matsumoto pinned Eiger with a schoolboy

 

 

4. Yuki Miyazaki & Tanny Mouse -vs- Carlos Amano & Sonoko Kato [1/2*]

--- .....and then comes the NEO Machine Guns match. Sure Amano & Kato are good, but.....Tanny is there. They draged this out 20 minutes. And Tanny WON!!! How can one possibly like this?! Probable the best thing was retired Genki Misae getting involved.

19:54 of 19:54 - Tanny pinned Amano with modified small package

 

 

5. Ran Yu Yu -vs- Aya Yuki [3/4*]

--- Finally something serious. However this was almost as basic and dull as it gets. Ran in control and taking this home comfortably.

13:50 of 13:52 - Yu Yu pinned Yuki after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

6. Yoshiko Tamura & Mima Shimoda -vs- Manami Toyota & Toshie Uematsu [* 1/4]

--- Finally something to like! The veteran stars bring it to close the show. It's 2010 and a NEO show so it's not a classic match, but they did enough to entertain the fans that were there with their bigger moves and near falls/saves. Tamura continues to look strong toward her retirement at the end of the year beating Uematsu easy.

19:34 of 19:35 - Tamura pinned Uematsu after a elbow smash

 

 

COMMENTS: Layed back show with the old girl bringing some at the end.

 

 

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NEO on COMM - July 19, 2010, Tokyo - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

July 19, 2010, Tokyo - Itabashi Green Hall (186 fans)

 

1. Aya Yuki -vs- Hanako Kobayashi [3/4*]

--- Basic modern joshi without any highlights as Yuki beats Kobayashi with the Death Valley.

8:14 of 8:14 - Yuki pinned Kobayashi after a Death Valley Bomb

 

 

2. Yuki Miyazaki -vs- Bambi [1/2*]

--- Easy match for Miyazaki beating up the whippin' girl....

9:22 of 9:22 - Miyazaki pinned Bambi after a moonsault

 

 

3. Tanny Mouse -vs- Mima Shimoda [1/2*]

--- I can't take no more Tanny bullshit!!!!! Why you let her ruin everything Shimoda?! And why do they fucking let Tanny win and win....?!??!?!

18:37 of 18:37 - Tanny pinned Shimoda with a European Clutch

 

 

4. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Misaki Ohata -vs- Ryo Mizunami & Kagetsu [* 1/4]

--- This was more like it! Youths having a competitve match and managing to create some excitement. You know it's going to be basic joshi wrestling ano 2010, but at least they accomplished something. The Sendai Girls team looked strong with even Kagetsu managing to impress locking in a weird figure-four armlock of some kind onm Matsumoto before Matsumoto got aggressive and landed her finishers one by one until she had her with the backdrop suplex.

16:00 of 16:00 - Matsumoto pinned Kagetsu after a backdrop suplex

 

 

5. Kana & Mio Shirai & Io Shira -vs- Yoshiko Tamura & Asami Kawasaki & Hikaru Shida [* 1/4]

--- Kana & the Shirais in effect! Trying to be over-cool and playful. Didn't help much that Shida of all people looked much more badass! Kawasaki was just cute. And Tamura didn't really do much. The match wasn't so much about her then the sexy gals trying to establish themselfs as characters on the scene. The match could have been better, but in todays climate this was good enough for me with the Shirai's taking care of Asami.

15:01 of 15:01 - Mio pinned Kawasaki after a Shining enzuigiri kick

 

 

COMMENTS: Decent and terrible.

 

 

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ICE RIBBON on COMM - July 19, 2010, Tokyo - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

July 19, 2010, Tokyo - Itabashi Green Hall

 

1. Riho -vs- Tsukushi [1/4*]

--- Kids wrestling. Not much needed to be said.

7:38 of 7:37 - Riho pinned Tsukushi with a Northern Light Suplex

 

 

2. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida & Sayaka Obihiro -vs- Natsuki*Taiyo & Mai Ichii & Minori Makiba [* 3/4]

--- A wild Ice Ribbon 6-woman tag featuring loads of charm, spirit, fuck-ups, screaming, great moments and pure confusion. I don't know what to think or feel. Some of the bout was very enjoyable, but then you had all the annoying things and terrible moment mixed in with the real engaging stuff. Just sit back and let this match put a smile on your face for all reasons possible....

18:19 of 18:18 - Shida pinned Makiba after a running headkick

 

 

3. Hamuko Hoshi -vs- Aika Ando [1/4*]

--- 2 quick wins for Hoshi and then the real match which was also uninteresting and a third win for Hoshi.

0:17 of 0:16 - Hoshi pinned Ando becuse she looked sexy

0:17 of 0:17 - Hoshi made Ando submit to a Boston Crab

5:26 of 5:20 - Hoshi pinned Ando after a lariat

 

 

4. Jun Kasai & Miyako Matsumoto © -vs- Commando Bolshoi & Chii Tomiya - (Ice Ribbon International Tag Title) [* 1/4]

--- Not a well-wrestled bout, but it had it's entertainment value with Kasai wanting to do it hardcore, bumping a lot for the girls and accidentally hurting his own partner at times. Someone who did end up getting hurt was little Tomiya as Matsumoto more or less double-arm piledrove her and I don't think that was planed as such. As a result Tomiya didn't kick out of the cover, but they pretended that she did and continued. Tomiya pulled herslef together and finished the match with a couple of more cradles before Matsumoto had her beat with a Gedo Clutch.

12:18 of 12:16 - Matsumoto pinned Tomiya with a Gedo Clutch. Kasai & Matsumoto retain the Ice Ribbon International Tag Title.

 

 

5. Nanae Takahashi © -vs- Kazumi Shimouma -vs- Makoto - (Ice Ribbon Triangle Title) [3/4*]

--- A lot of double moves. Double bodyslam, double Boston Crab, double suplex and so on. Execution wasn't all that good because of it, but it was kind of fun watching them try the impossible.There was a few other decent moves too like Makoto's rolling top rope senton, but what was not good was how Shimouma struggled to do the finishing move which was a jack knife cradle with Makoto's legs in figure-four mode. Regardless thats how Shimouma on the belt.

11:54 of 11:53 - Shimouma pinned Makoto with a figure-four jack knife cradle to become the Ice Ribbon Triangle Champion.

 

 

6. Emi Sakura © -vs- Hikari Minami - (ICEx60 Title) [1/2*]

--- And Sakura shows again how unselfish she is by letting another one of her unfinished trainees winning the ICEx60 belt off her. But Minami didn't look very good here always running around, slipping and not knowing where she was going. So the title change wasn't all that welcome to be honest.....

16:14 of 16:13 - Minami pinned Sakura with a Blockbuster suplex to become the ICEx60 Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: Ice Ribbon will always be a strange place to follow. There is a lot to hate about what they do, but it does have it's bright side too within all the dark clouds.

 

 

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LUCHA FIESTA on SAMURAI TV - July 19, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 19, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall

 

1. Takeshi Minaminno & Pineaple Hanai & Banana Senga -vs- Toru Owashi & Hisamaru Tajima & Manabu Murakami [* 1/4]

--- The Fruit stable is back! Much better to have Ken45, Senga and Minaminno in those colorful costumes then the lame gimmicks they have now. But this is just a short-term reunion for Ultimo Dragon's Lucha Fiesta show. Best bit was big Owashi doing lucha! Now that looked....I don't know. He did it, lets just say that. But this was just a light-hearted bout which Minaminno beat the wrestler also known as Maguro Ooma.

9:00 of 9:00 - Minaminno pinned Murakami with a schoolboy

 

 

2. Venezia -vs- Espectrito [* 1/2]

--- Always loved lucha libre minis! And here with Espectrito and Venezia showing that they are getting old. This is Mini Vader and Max Mini of WWF fame, by the way. Execution wasn't always fine and it became more comic then the spectacular craze these kinds of matches often are. But Venezia did show that he can still fly! Also do some monkey business which got laughs before he beat the tired looking Espectrito with a cradle.

7:29 of 8:49 - Venezia pinned Espectrito with a forward rolling cradle

 

 

3. Brazo de Platino & Milanito Collection at & A*YU*MI -vs- NOSAWA Rongai & Minoru Fujita & Misaki Ohata [**]

--- Ah, this brings back memories from the Ultimo Dragon produce shows from 2006. This is re-run mania, but still a lot of fun with Platino doing his Brazo thing. Oosugi back being Milanito and way too small and with a masked Ayumi Kurihara being totally unable to hide her pretty looks even if wearing a mask. And NOSAWA & Fujita played so well with the nonsense of Platino that I wasn't getting sick of their appearence for this match. And we had a happy ending with some Platino flying and splash all three for the pin.

13:42 of 13:42 - Platino & Milanito & A*YU*MI pinned NOSAWA & Fujita & Ohata after a Platino bodypress

 

 

4. Solar -vs- Negro Navarro [* 1/2]

--- Total wrestling school of strange holds from two old masters of the game. Not the most realistic of wrestling, but at the same time those holds looked great and the younger generation has got a lot to learn a thing or thousand from these veterans having a cool exhibition ending with a double pinfall on a modified Romero Special hold.

13:36 of 13:36 - Solar wrestled Navarro to a Double Pinfall

 

 

5. Ultimo Dragon & Hajime Ohara & Mineo Fujita -vs- Black Tiger V & Darkness Dragon & Shu Sato [* 1/4]

--- Not exactly classic wrestling, but clear roles as Ohara was the heel not wanting to help his babyface partners against other rudos. And of course there was some twin changes as Kei was also there. Probable the most spectacular moment was the buckets of water..... that tells you about the wrestling in this match. Fun in a different way. And then Black Tiger pulled off Ultimo Dragon's mask which caused a stupid DQ as that also eliminates the rudo side from getting a title shot at the classic NWA International Junior Title as that'll be decided in a match between the winning three.....

12:20 of 12:20 - Dragon & Ohara & Fujita defeated Black Tiger & Dragon & Sato by DQ

 

 

6. Mineo Fujita © -vs- Ultimo Dragon -vs- Hajime Ohara - (NWA International Junior Title; 3-Way) [* 3/4]

--- And with Ultimo out for a while getting a new mask this one started out a singles match between Fujita and Ohara with some low blow and roll-up finish before it was the Ultimo Dragon show as he and Ohara fought for the title. And all the heels came out to interfere until Brozo de Platino and Venezia came out to save the day for Dragon who could follow up with a Asai DDT to get the belt! Can't say the wrestling was all that good as the fans was laughing more then feeling the drama, but yes you had to laugh with the fans as this match was amusing in it's way.

3:10 - Ohara pinned Fujita with a small package

12:29 of 12:46 - Dragon pinned Ohara after a Asai DDT to become the 23rd NWA International Junior Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: Happy lucha libre celebrating the old.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NJPW on PPV - July 19, 2010, Tsukisamu - (3 3/4 hrs)

 

 

July 19, 2010, Tsukisamu Alpha Court Dome (5,000 fans)

 

1. Taichi Ishikari & Tama Tonga -vs- Akira & Kyosuke Mikami [*]

--- Show starts off with some of the lowest ranked guys in the company having a ordinary match with the rookie doing the job. As standard as it gets.

7:30 of 7:29 - Ishikari pinned Mikami after a Superkick

 

 

2. Kushida -vs- Gedo [*]

--- Started out frustrating as Gedo did very little when in control draging the match down. Not that the speed hightend much when Kushida was running the show, but at least this had a happy ending with Kushida flying Gedo down and after the match using the kendo stick on Gedo to get his payback.

8:41 of 8:41 - Kushida pinned Gedo after the Midnight Express

 

 

3. Manabu Nakanishi & Hirooki Goto & Tomoaki Honma -vs- Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine & Mitsuhide Hirasawa [* 1/4]

--- Hirasawa has fans!!! He looked so proud about that! So he tried a little bit extra, but of course ran into too many lariats and found himself getting Shouten'd by Goto.....

9:22 of 9:30 - Goto pinned Hirasawa after the Shouten

 

 

4. Koji Kanemoto & El Samurai © -vs- Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi - (IWGP Junior Tag Title) [**]

--- I was so scared that old Samurai was going to retain the belts for his side. Samurai really has no business being there and was clearly the weak link, but I guess that's why people love him as he's getting so old and vulnerable. Sympathy love. And he was close with his chickenwing armlock as he and Taguchi had a lenghty mentor vs student battle. But then came the Dodon..... and relief! Apollo55 are back as IWGP Junior Tag Champs and Devitt is now a double-champ also holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweigth singles belt!

14:00 of 13:59 - Taguchi pinned Samurai after the Dodon. Devitt & Taguchi become the 26th IWGP Junior Tag Champions.

 

 

5. Toru Yano -vs- Tajiri [3/4*]

--- Tajiri could barely walk on his bad leg which Yano just had to attack. Tajiri fought bravely and not so bravely smashing a chair over Yano's head HARD! That only got him a near fall, but he wanteds to land the Buzzsaw kick, but his leg was hurting too much and Yano took over locking the leg and making Tajiri submit in no time.

5:56 of 5:56 - Yano made Tajiri submit to a standing kneelock

 

 

6. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson -vs- Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue -vs- Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito - (IWGP Tag Title; 3-Way Dogfight) [* 3/4]

--- Bad Intentions, Blue Justice and No Limit face ones more in a 3-way match for the IWGP Tag Titles. This time the rules are more of the gauntlet variety. Straight tag matches with the winner standing to face the next team. And starting out it was the IWGP Tag Champions Bad Intentions against Blue Justice's Nagata & Inoue. And this was a mixed bag. Started out fairly good. Not super, but solid enough start, then it turned terrible. It started with little mis-communications and then everyone got lost toward the end of it. This was really embarrassing to watch such once-greats as Nagata not have a clue what was happening next and this went on a while until Inoue won a very flat fall with a spear which it didn't even seem the referee completely knew was the finish. Blue Justice vs No Limit was at least short, but that didn't stop Inoue from looking like a complete amateur with no sense of timing getting a neckbreaker. Naito couldn't beat him soon enough..... Then for Bad Intrentions to get back in the game having a average match with No Limit ending with a Bernard Driver. By this point the wrestlers looked too irritated to even care to save this one. And for the decision Bad Intentions beat Blue Justice to thankfully keep the belts away from Inoue. The ending fall was decent, but for a match lasting 37 minutes in total this sure had little good to offer.

12:33 of 12:32 - Inoue pinned Anderson after a spear

4:30 of 4:17 - Naito pinned Inoue with a jack knife cradle

9:06 of 8:53 - Bernard pinned Takahashi after a Bernard Driver

11:13 of 11:13 - Anderson pinned Inoue after Gun Stun. Bernard & Anderson retain the IWGP Tag Title in their 1st defence.

 

 

7. Hiroshi Tanahashi -vs- Takashi Iizuka - (Sleeper Match) [** 1/4]

--- In this grudge match you can only win by choking your opponent out with a sleeper. And you could bet Iizuka had a bunch of tricks up his sleeve to make things difficult for Tanahashi who already had a hurting jaw from his match with Go Shiozaki earlier in the month making him weak for any offence in that area. And Iizuka had the Iron Figers From Hell! Those connected. Then Iizuka went on to choke Tanahashi with a string while locking in a sleeper to seal it from the referee. But he was busted anyway. Didn't stop him from continuing locking in the sleeper, but now it was time for Tanahashi's big comeback landing the Sling Blade and High Flying Flow and then came the winning sleeper making the veteran pass out for the babyface moment! A lot of the match was brawling around ringside knocking chairs and railings down and some variation sleepers/chokes getting locked in for excitement. Wasn't a ultimate experience, but it had it's parts of goodness.

20:00 of 20:00 - Tanahashi defeated Iizuka with a sleeper

 

 

8. Togi Makabe © -vs- Shinsuke Nakamura - (IWGP Title) [** 1/2]

--- Makabe beat Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Title on May 3 and here comes the re-match only in Makabe's second defence after successfully retaining against Go Shiozaki in June. This match followed a similar formula and sadly didn't bring anything amazing as one could hope for a title match in the biggest wrestling company in Japan. But good it naturally was. The climax part was Makabe landing the Spider German and King Kong Kneedrop to the back, but Nakamura blocked the regular top rope kneedrop and wanted to land the Boma Ye which Makabe escaped. And after some minor twists and turns Makabe had Nakamura beat again with a Dragon Suplex!

18:15 of 18:15 - Makabe pinned Nakamura with a Dragon Suplex to retain the IWGP Title in his 2nd defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: Didn't click all that well for them for such a big show. None of the match lived up to their potential and it seemed this was a B-Level focus for nearly everyone. Still there was quality here and there without reaching the high notes with the main two matches having something to offer.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NOAH on Samurai TV - July 19, 2010, Akita City - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 19, 2010, Akita City Selion Plaza (850 fans)

 

- SEM Highlights (7-18 Akita City)

 

1. Taiji Ishimori -vs- Alex Payne [1/2*]

--- Little shown and it looked like a very very very easy win for Ishimori.

3:40 of 8:52 - Ishimori pinned Payne after a Firebird Splash

 

 

2. Masao Inoue -vs- Makoto Hashi [1/2*]

--- Inoue and Hashi slapstick.....

9:46 of 12:29 - Inoue pinned Hashi with a cradle cut-back

 

 

3. Takeshi Morishima & Takuma Sano -vs- Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki [* 1/4]

--- Typical house show filler stuff really. Aoki was the man to rely on for the better work, but overall the action went in one eye and out the other with Morishima beating the smallest of the junior heavyweights.

14:12 of 14:12 - Morishima pinned Aoki after a backdrop suplex

 

 

4. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa -vs- Mohammed Yone & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi [*]

--- A lot of playing around with little Genba's little one which creates the question what really goes on in the NOAH dojo when cameras are not there. Taue is especially fond of the little one. So yes, not a match with a lot of effort with Ogawa getting to beat everybodies favourite kid to pick on.

15:36 of 15:37 - Ogawa pinned Hirayanagi with a backdrop suplex hold

 

 

5. Go Shiozaki & KENTA -vs- Yoshihiro Takayama & Ricky Marvin [* 1/2]

--- Thank God for Ricky Marvin in meaningless house show matches. He works for everybody making the job very easy for everybody else. And of course he mixed well with KENTA with Takayama and Shiozaki only coming in during short periods to land their stiffness. So a fun little match where Marvin naturally had to do the job.

14:38 of 14:39 - Shiozaki pinned Marvin after the Go Flasher

 

 

6. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito -vs- Takashi Suguira & Shuhei Taniguchi [*]

--- Long main event but so dry for highlights or a reason to care. Waste of time main event! Way to go NOAH!

21:13 of 21:15 - Saito pinned Taniguchi after a enzuigiri

 

 

COMMENTS: Nah, nothing happening here.....

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NOAH on PPV - July 24, 2010, Osaka - (3 3/4 hrs)

 

 

July 24, 2010, Osaka Prefectural Gym (3,500 fans)

 

1. Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin -vs- Asian Cougar & Kanjyouro Matsuyama [* 1/4]

--- NOAH against Osaka Pro in Osaka and the Osaka side pick veteran Asian Cougar and......Matsuyama. The silly comedy bloke. That was going to keep this from become a positive experience. But brush him aside it had some nice spots with Marvin's corkscrew plancha to the outside being my favourite moment of the match. And that on a Cougar that was covered in party strings which Matsuyama had accidentally covered him with. Then all that was left to do was 450 bodypress Matsuyama for the win.....

13:16 of 13:17 - Ishimori pinned Matsuyama aftera Firebird Splash

 

 

2. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue -vs- Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara [*]

--- What a waste of the Kensuke Office guys having them lose to a couple of old guys with nothing to offer. The KO wrestler at least brought something. Inoue just brought the small package.

9:58 of 9:59 - Inoue pinned Okita with a small package

 

 

3. Mohammed Yone & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi -vs- Akitoshi Saito & Takuma Sano & Masaji Aoyagi [3/4*]

--- Pretty much slow old guys tag with slow hard strikes until it ended with a cradle battle between the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and near-pensionist Aoyagi.

9:02 of 9:02 - Kanemaru pinned Aoyagi with a roll-up

 

 

4. Yoshihiro Takayama & Yoshinari Ogawa -vs- Takeshi Morishima & Katsuhiko Nakajima [* 1/2]

--- Why is it that Ogawa is being so unstoppable lately?! Now he even pins Nakajima! What's wrong with the world?! Ok action in it's normal way while it lasted but the result sucked.

12:13 of 12:14 - Ogawa pinned Nakajima with a backdrop suplex

 

 

5. Takashi Suguira -vs- Shuhei Taniguchi [* 3/4]

--- Taniguchi's 9th Trial Match and it's against his regular tag partner and GHC Heavyweight Champion Sugiura! And as Taniguchi has emulated Sugiura's style you can guess there was a battle of the same spots. Mirror match if you will. Not too exciting because neither guy knows how to keep the match alive in between the suplexes. But they did the suplex trading until Sugiura buster out the Olympic Slam for the expected win.

15:16 of 15:17 - Sugiura pinned Taniguchi after a Olympic Slam

 

 

6. Shinsuke Nakamura & Gedo -vs- Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki [** 1/2]

--- New Japan's Nakamura & Gedo coming in to face NOAH's Aoki & Marufuji! And not unexpectidly it was a real solid match. Lacked a little intensity to really become great, but it was fun seeing little Aoki try against Nakamura and Gedo grin when beating up Aoki. So yeah, Aoki was the man of the match with the others coming in to do their trademark spots while he was there to survive and prove himself. He did have the former New Japan heavyweight in a cross-armbreaker without getting any tap. Instead Nakamura showed the little guy how it's done landing the Boma Ye.

18:23 of 18:23 - Nakamura pinned Aoki after a Boma Ye kneekick

 

 

7. Kensuke Sasaki -vs- Go Shiozaki [** 3/4]

--- An epic. And this match was very two-part in a way to look at it. First is the disappointment. It was a very long bout with a lot of slow bashing, laying around and doing very little. The 34 minute match felt a lot longer then that and that's not a good thing. You want these kinds of matches to fly past, but they were really struggling to get anything out of this one. Can be because they were showing that Shiozaki was Sasaki's bitch. That was the first 20 minutes with Shiozaki really looking like a junior. And then they started channeling the Kenta Kobashi spirit to Go who slowly started fighting himself back once Sasaki's exhaustion started coming. And then they fucked up probable the biggest stunt of the match. Some kind of top rope move, but Shiozaki lost balance and they fell too soon to get the right position. Now it was really looking like a insult to the fans who wanted to like this. To make up for it Shiozaki started doing Kobashi moves of chops and lariats before landing the moonsault and Go Flasher, but Sasaki was tired not beaten so he kicked out of the biggest moves Go has. Then the match turned good, but it was a total copy job of Kobashi vs Sasaki 2005. The fans loved it though and it finally felt like a big match. Shiozaki was starting toe-to-toe with Sasaki's chops and even invited Sasaki to Machine Gun chop him in the corner before repaying him. And then the chops was taking it's toll on Shiozaki and he was unable to attack back. And then.....NORTHERN LIGHT BOMB!!!

33:36 of 33:36 - Sasaki pinned Shiozaki after a Northern Light Bomb

 

 

8. Jun Akiyama & KENTA -vs- Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi [***]

--- More NOAH fighting New Japan! I don't know why they keep brining Taguchi in these matches. He's the clear weaklink. The fans don't take him as any threat and mostly laugh at his offence, but I guess they needed someone easy to do the job even if they let the match suffer because of it. Suffer or suffer, watching Akiyama treat him like a little kid was worth it. But who really saved it was KENTA! Finally someone who was tough enough to challenge Nagata with the stiff game! And finally Nagata showed some fire in a match. Doesn't happen all that often these days. But KENTA standing up to him and giving as good as taking against the heavyweight was what this match lived for. And their exchagned was so brutal that KENTA was bleeding the hard way! The end was Akiyama landing a wrist-clutch Exploder on Taguchi to get the pin, a move that Nagata wanted to try on Akiyama just a minute earlier had it not been blocked by a flying KENTA.

22:24 of 22:24 - Akiyama pinned Taguchi after a wrist-clutch Exploder

 

 

COMMENTS: Big show. Big matches. Quiet crowd and slow growing matches. Some of which stuggled a lot to become interesting. The Shiozaki vs Sasaki match is one of those matches which you might both hate and love at the same time, but they really needed to book that one differently then how they did because only a little of that they did actually worked. The New Japan vs NOAH matches were solid, but lacked some real hatred to become classics as only ones that showed anything was KENTA.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

SMASH on Samurai TV - July 24, 2010, Tokyo - (3 hrs)

 

 

July 24, 2010, Tokyo (Aft) - Shinjuku FACE (590 fans)

 

1. Kyosuke Mikami -vs- Yusuke Kodama [3/4*]

--- New Japan's latest rookie Mikami against SMASH's rookie Kodama in a solid short rookie style match. As well as one could expect with the winning one as Mikami was looking a lot bigger the Kodama. And he won the Boston Crab way.

3:01 of 4:48 - Mikami made Kodama submit to a Boston Crab

 

 

2. Akira -vs- Gurvinder Sihra [1/2*]

--- World Tryout Match time and Akira faces the exotic Gurvinder Sihra. Well, to be honest he looked and wrestled like a generic indy wrestling. Very little that was special about him, but he did do the Osamu Nishimura meditating off the sleeper spot. But then he was beat with a splash. No match for Akira.

3:59 of 5:51 - Akira pinned Sihra after a top rope bodypress

 

 

3. Kana -vs- Shuri [1/2*]

--- Wow, Kana didn't give Shuri any slack in this one beating her in just 3 minutes having the arm locked in while sitting on top of her. I guess she was pissed for losing to Shuri on the last SMASH show.

3:06 of 3:06 - Kana made Shuri submit to a armbar

 

 

4. Valentine -vs- Akira Shoji [1/4*]

--- Only half aired and it didn't really generate much excitement before Finland's Velentine got his 1st SMASH win.

3:17 of 6:23 - Valentine pinned Shoji after the Rumentaja

 

 

5. Starbuck -vs- Hajime Ohara [*]

--- This was Ohara's 26 birthday as he got a birthday song and wishes before the show including a video message from Jessica Love. And he faces Canadian Starbuck who makes his Japan debut. Starbuck is a player on the Nordic wrestling scene being the trainer in Finland's Fight Club Finland and also a longstanding working relationship with the Norwegian Wrestling Federation back when I used to follow my local promotion. He brought some rare professionality to a otherwise unexperienced promotion back then and he looked like a pro here a few years later too. But this was just a introduction match and Ohara made him look like a million bucks letting him squash him in a mare 4 minutes with a piledriver and a slow one-finger cover. Happy birthday Ohara!

4:18 of 4:18 - Starbuck pinned Ohara afetr a piledriver

 

 

6. Eugene & Scotty 2 Hotty & Taka Michinoku -vs- Tajiri & Kushida & Lin Bairon [* 1/2]

--- Team WWE against Team SMASH! And it's WORM TIME!!! Scotty 2 Hotty has arrived in Japan! And poor Kushida gets to be the first victim to the dreadful worm. And it really wasn't even a good Worm to be honest. Anyway this was a pure entertainment match with the idiot Eugene Michinoku Driving Taka his own partner when he was doing his copy spots. Not to mention doing wrong things to Bairon. All in good fun of course with the Amercan guests being respectful on the mic.

15:25 of 17:12 - Scotty pinned Kushida after the Worm

 

 

July 24, 2010, Tokyo (Eve) - Shinjuku FACE (600 fans)

 

7. Gurvinder Sihra -vs- Yusuke Kodama

--- Very forgettable action as SMASH rookie gets beat by Sihra.

2:29 of 4:19 - Sihra pinned Kodama after a top rope elbow drop

 

 

8. Akira Shoji & Toshie Uematsu -vs- Akira & Lin Bairon [*]

--- Shoji had learned how to treat a woman by Eugene spanking riding Bairon. But probable the most interesting thing about this match was Uematsu's SMASH make-over sporting the white style attire as both Shuri and Bairon have. And Uematsu kept blocking the limited Hong Kong kung-fu Bairon had to come with and while in a figure-four untied Bairon's shoes so that when Bairon went to tie them Uematsu rolled her up for the pin.

11:36 of 11:36 - Uematsu pinned Bairon with a schoolboy

 

 

9. Hajime Ohara -vs- Valentine [* 1/4]

--- Ohara hasn't exactly had a good start in SMASH being mostly on the losing end of matches including getting beat by a transvestite wrestler. But this his birthday and after being so unselfish earlier in the day losing to Starbuck in 4 minutes he finally gets a deserved with defeating former FCF Champion Valentine with the Muy Bien crab hold, but he almost had to help Valentine tap to get the win. Now it's a happy birthday.

4:52 of 6:13 - Ohara made Valentine submit to the Muy Bien

 

 

10. Tetsuya Naito -vs- Kushida [** 1/4]

--- Kushida getting a special challenge facing New Japan's young star Naito and they managed to execute it right so that Kushida looked good before naturally losing to the main stream wrestler getting a few near falls and looking competitive. Kushida had Naito pinned on a big leep off the top rope, but the referee was down and once he was getting up Naito had plenty of time to gather the energy to kick out. Instead Naito came back and German'ed Kushida before landing the twisting moonsault.

12:52 of 12:49 - Naito pinned Kushida after the Stardust Press

 

 

11. Eugene & Shuri -vs- Taka Michinoku & Scotty 2 Hotty [3/4*]

--- A lot of Eugene and Scotty of course as they've come so far to perform in front of the Japanese crowd. Not exactly great wrestling, but a light hearted playing around with Shuri stopping Scotty as he was about to load up the Worm abling Eugene to roll him up for the pin with a little help from a headkick from Shuri. The fans was disappointed about not seeing the Worm, so Scotty had to do it as revenge after the match with the fans crazy with it.

10:12 of 13:15 - Eugene pinned Scotty with a schoolboy

 

 

12. Tajiri © -vs- Starbuck - (FCF Title) [*]

--- So Tajiri face the dangerous Starbuck and needs to keep as far away as he possible can from the piledriver that Starbuck beat Ohara with in 4 minutes earlier in the day, because Starbuck want to bring the FCF Title back to Finland with him. But this was a slow fight which was over before it reached any hights. But yeah, that piledriver is a killer. 9 minutes and Tajiri was beat with it. One finger cover!!! Ohara bitch slapped Tajiri for that embarrassing fight and Tajiri cried like a little girl.

9:08 of 9:08 - Starbuck pinned Tajiri after a piledriver to become the FCF Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: A lot of short and edited matches for SMASH 5 & 6 shows. Best bout was Kushida vs Naito, but highlight might have been the surreal moment of seeing Scotty 2 Hotty in Japan.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate USA on COMM - July 24, 2010, Philadelphia, PA - (3 1/2 hrs)

 

 

July 24, 2010, Philadelphia, PA - The Arena (855 fans)

 

1. CIMA -vs- Johnny Gargano [* 1/2]

--- Gargano was being all stupid on the mic and wanted a fight with CIMA and got it. A total CIMA showcase! Well, a little Gargano getting to not look all hopeless, but it was a basic CIMA win landing the Schwein and Meteora pleasing the fans like only CIMA can.

11:54 of 11:54 - CIMA pinned Gargano after the Meteora

 

 

2. Chuck Taylor -vs- Adam Cole -vs- Arik Cannon -vs- Ricochet [* 3/4]

--- This was awesome?! Seriously? It's decent and it had a handfull cool moves and some that landed hard, but isn't 'awesome' streaching it a little bit? At least the fans were into enjoying themselfs. I did like that backslide driver and the finish which was a very indy piledriver. Why they always have to lift a wrestler up in strange ways to deliver a move I've got no idea, but the move at least landed great as a spiked down piledriver. That was Taylor winning pinning Ricochet.

9:42 of 9:42 - Taylor pinned Ricochet after a modified piledriver

 

 

3. Naruki Doi -vs- Drake Younger [*]

--- Younger a substitute opponent for Doi as Dragon Kid was injured. And can't say I was ever very interested in what was going on here. Drake gets a trashing.

8:42 of 8:44 - Doi pinned Younger after a Bakatare Sliding Kick

 

 

4. BxB Hulk © -vs- Masaaki Mochizuki - (Open the Freedom Gate Title) [**]

--- Appearently this wasn't awesome enough for the crowd because they held back the speedy spectacular stuff for so long, so the crowd chanted 'This is wrestling' instead. And Mochizuki used a long time working over the leg of the champ keeping the match grounded a lot. Tight wrestling, but hardly super good either. They looked butchered by the heat in The Arena right from the start and looked unable to turn it up a notch sweating like pigs. Execution wasn't as swift as one could expect from Dragon Gate wrestlers either so it was only a good epic and not nearly as great as it's potential. And there was trouble with the end as Hulk landed a less then perfect Phoenix Splash and there was confussion about the three. So Hulk had to kick Mochizuki's face in to get the a proper pin. After the match Moxley and his crowd came out and humiliated Hulk quite a bit.

21:47 of 21:32 - Hulk pinned Mochizuki after a headkick to retain the Open the Freedom Gate Title in his 5th defence.

 

 

5. Rich Swann -vs- Scott Reid [1/4*]

--- Quick nothing match so that Brodie Lee could come out and squash both guys. At least he let them start and even finish the match before he invaded.

2:04 - Swann pinned Reid with a summersault splash

 

 

6. Masato Yoshino & Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw & Hallowicked -vs- YAMATO & Akira Tozawa & Gran Akuma & Jon Moxley - (Elimination) [** 1/4]

--- Moxley had to get himself DQ'ed in a match his team pretty much had control as YAMATO took care of both Jigsaw & Hallowicked with the Gallaria. He nearly had Yoshino beat with it too, but the fresh Open the Dream Gate Champion kicked out! And instead both Tosawa & YAMATO was trapped in submissions making them submit with Team Chikara + Yoshino winning the elimination match with both Quackenbush & Yoshino surviving. Fine bout with a few big moves before it was over, but far from the best it could have been. Funniest bit was when YAMATO was nearly hit by Akuma's moonsault not knowing he was coming flying behind his back!

8:00 - YAMATO pinned Hallowicked with the Gallaria

10:40 - Moxley was DQ'ed for using a chair

11:08 - YAMATO pinned Jigsaw with the Gallaria

14:20 - Quackenbush pinned Akuma with a modified Ligerbomb

18:36 18:34 - Quackenbush made Tozawa submit to the Chikara Special and Yoshino made YAMATO submit to the Sol Naciente

 

 

7. Bryan Danielson -vs- Shingo Takagi [*** 1/4]

--- One of Danielson's big indy appearences during his short-term time-off from WWE and it's a smacker against Shingo! Going nearly 30 minutes in typical Danielson style with Shingo doing his impact blows in between the wearing down parts. One of Danielson's big moments was the springboard dive out over the railings taking Shingo down. But I'm pretty sure Tozawa got the worst of that one getting the the Dragon straight in his face and was still laying in the crowds as the wrestlers had entered the already. Little later you could see from the camera angle a dazed Tozawa falling himself over the railings. Poor sucker had no one to help him. Anyway, the actual match had Takagi land his Death Valley verson as well as his neckdrops, but once the end was creeping in it was Danielson in charge doing the elbows, locking in the double-arm moves like the Cattle Mutilation, Tiger Suplex and such before he got in the crossface to get the Dragon Gate wrestler submit! The crowd chanted 'Match of the Year' and it's one of better ones for my part.

29:15 of 29:15 - Danielson made Takagi submit to a Crippler Crossface

 

 

8. Super Shenlong -vs- Lince Dorado [* 1/4]

--- Half-clumsy, half-beautiful flying wrestling with Dragon Gate loser Shenlong and this Dorado cat going the distance to the crowds disappointment. They were most disappointed that we didn't get a decision, not the wrestling.

10:03 of 10:00 - Shenlong wrestled Dorado to a 10:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

9. Cheech & Cloudy -vs- Rex Reed & Tommaso Ciampa [*]

--- A quick nothing tag with Up In Smoke doing some fancy stuff and beating the unknown easy. Brodie Lee beat Cheech & Cloudy up easy too.....

5:38 - Cloudy pinned Ciampa after a assisted senton

 

 

10. Jimmy Jacobs -vs- Sami Callihan [* 3/4]

--- Had it's moment as the two wannabe freaks tried to give the Golden Ticket fans some moneys worth. Callihan was the stronger of the two and tried to keep Jacobs down with muscle, but Jacobs is a more rounded wrestler and surprised Callihan by leeps and turns he was not expecting and found ways to lock in the front neck lock to make Callihan tap.

9:42 - Jacobs made Callihan submit to a front neck lock

 

 

FIP - December 10, 2005, Brooksville, FL - Hernando County Fairgrounds

 

11. Bryan Danielson -vs- Roderick Strong [* 1/2]

--- A Danielson vs Strong match from 2005 and this wasn't very interesting. Too boring for me to get into anyway. I'm sure they could have found more fun matches to put on here as a bonus. Sure they did the equal thing and so on. The match was solid put together. It just wasn't a big deal and with a little help from Prazak the American Dragon could win with a German Suplex which impact was so hard Danielson couldn't hold on and had to make a regular cover.

22:06 - Danielson pinned Strong after a German Suplex

 

 

COMMENTS: The undercard of the 1 year anniversary of Dragon Gate USA wasn't much. It was just there really. Even thew Hulk vs Mochizuki title bout had it's hick-ups. But the Danielson vs Takagi bout was the one saving the show bigtime!

 

 

--PUNQ--