Guide to Japanese Wrestling 2010

[PUNQ]

ZERO-ONE MAX on Samurai TV - July 24, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 24, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall

 

 

 

1. Joe Legend -vs- Kohei Sato - (Fire Festival '10 - Block B ) [* 1/4]

--- Sato was having a difficult time with Joe. Sato really is struggling against foreigners at the moment having just lost his Zero-One Title to Chris the Bambi Killer and now he loses to Just Joe in another embarrassing performance. Not good Sato.

11:42 of 13:05 - Legend pinned Sato after the Hospital Jam

 

 

 

2. Shinjiro Otani -vs- Daisuke Sekimoto - (Fire Festival '10 - Block A) [** 1/4]

--- Otani the Zero-One soul against the KO-D Champion and the soul of Big Japan serious wrestling Sekimoto. And things was served for doing something special with this one as Sekimoto is a longtime affiliate with Zero-One and the Fire Festival. And Sekimoto for once looked like he had a chance getting pushed hard in several promotions while Zero-One's stick is falling while Otani desperatly trying to hold on to the Shinya Hashimoto spirit that established Zero-One back in 2001. And Sekimoto went straight to work on Otani's leg grounding him more then usual while Otani countered by going for the arm. You could sense they were going to keep at it a while and they did. Too long as we got no winner before the time limit expired. A draw with Sekimoto nearly having Otani beat the final minute with the German Suplex, but Otani kicked out just like Sekimoto had of his Dragon Suplex. The match was good in parts, but they sort of lost a lot of the focus in the later stages not creating too much to note.

23:13 of 30:00 - Otani wrestled Sekimoto to a 30:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

 

3. The Predator -vs- Yutaka Yoshie - (Fire Festival '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- It had the freakshow aspect as the Bruiser Brody guy and FAT~Yoshie kept clashing, but it wasn't the kind of match that managed to keep the fans interested. Best bits was Predator always falling into the crowd and some of the heavyweight blows, but letting them go past 10 minutes was unneccessary. And it was also kind of strange seeing Predator winning with a simple kneedrop after all that powerfull slugging. But I know, it was a King Kong kneedrop so.....

13:56 of 14:11 - Predator pinned Yoshie after a kneedrop

 

 

 

4. Ikuto Hidaka -vs- Masato Tanaka - (Fire Festival '10 - Block B ) [***]

--- Two veteran aces of Zero-One. Tanaka has been the top heavyweight for years and Hidaka has been the top junior heavyweight for years. By normal Japanese booking the result would be a given as a heavyweight always beats a junior heavyweight, but not this time! Hidaka got his much deserved CLEAN win over Tanaka! Just that in itself is worth seeing this bout. Didn't hurt that it's one of the best bouts to come out of the promotion this year. Loved how Hidaka countered one of the Sliding D's into a cradle. He was close to winning on that one too! Well, Tanaka did own most of the match including landing a Sliding lariat and a Sliding D which Hidaka kicked out. But this hasn't really been Tanaka's year in Zero-One and he lost to Hidaka with fans seeming very happy about that!

20:24 of 21:43 - Hidaka pinned Tanaka after a headkick

 

 

COMMENTS: The 10th Annual Fire Festival gets started! However this years line-up is not as strong as previous years. The foreigners are not the right ones to create any excitement and the promotion isn't nearly as hot as it once was.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[air_raid]

Love this thread man.

 

Can't believe if I'd been able to stay in Japan one more week, today at Korakuen I could have seen Tajiri vs Riho and (IMO) the greatest womens wrestler of all time, Manami Toyota vs a 13 year old in Ice Ribbon. ARGH!

[Richie Freebird]

Love this thread man.

 

Can't believe if I'd been able to stay in Japan one more week, today at Korakuen I could have seen Tajiri vs Riho and (IMO) the greatest womens wrestler of all time, Manami Toyota vs a 13 year old in Ice Ribbon. ARGH!

 

Please will you take me with you next time you go? I

[air_raid]

Please will you take me with you next time you go? I

[Richie Freebird]

Talked yourself out of it already.

 

Getting kicked out of one 270 only to stroll into another three doors down with impunity, getting a taxi to Roppongi at 12:45 AM just to see the second half of a football match then fighting off the hookers just to find a McDonalds, getting in at 7AM and having less than 5 hours to try and sleep, sober up and get to Yokohama, getting the talent smashed so they tell you who is Joshi are "resbians" together and which former ROH World Champion and his girlfriend used to cut each other in bed, who in New Japan is bi etc... could be well behaved, in some circles.

 

That sounds like how I imagine heaven to be.

 

Also, dish on the ROH blood sex fiends? I

[PUNQ]

Haha, drift this off to anywhere you like. Better then this being just my dead posts about the scene.

 

 

 

 

NEO on COMM - July 25, 2010, Nagoya - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 25, 2010, Nagoya - Chigusa Sports Center (473 fans)

 

1. Mima Shimoda -vs- Hamuko Hoshi [1/2*]

--- Only thing memorable about this one was the referee fucking up the finish by not counting the three on the axekick. A pissed Shimoda responded by Tiger Suplexing Hoshi to hell!

8:34 of 8:34 - Shimoda pinned Hoshi with a Tiger Suplex

 

 

2. Hailey Hatred -vs- Basara [*]

--- Ok, this had my interest. A rare Japan appearence from Hailey Hatred that reach tape and against the former Sendai Girl gone bad Basara. Nothing more then a standard formula, but it felt fresh so it was a positive and simple experience with Basara getting her ass kicked by the foreigner.

7:52 of 7:52 - Hailey pinned Basara after a fisherman's buster

 

 

3. Manami Toyota -vs- Tsukasa Fujimoto [*]

--- Glamorized match making it look like Fujimoto had a chance countering and landing the few finishers she had. Sure she was more hungry, but Toyota is Toyota. And not that the match was anything special. Very predictable actually with Fujimoto kicking out of a lot. Too much in fact. But in the end Toyota got her JOCSH and beat her.

12:57 of 12:57 - Toyota pinned Fujimoto with the Japanese Ocean Cyclon Suplex Hold

 

 

4. Jaguar Yokota & Tanny Mouse -vs- Kayoko Haruyama & Megumi Yabushita [3/4*]

--- Neither well executed nor very interesting. Plus it featured Tanny and I don't really need to go deeper into that. Only a happy match for the fans with Jaguar stealing the win.

13:50 of 12:39 - Yokota pinned Yabushita with a reversed small package

 

 

5. Yuki Miyazaki & Sonoko Kato -vs- Tsubasa Kuragaki & Aya Yuki [* 1/4]

--- What is it with the retiring NEO girls winning so much since they announced they were leaving the business at the end of the year?! Miyazaki who's got nothing left to fight for gets to pin one of few top wrestlers JWP has got. There is something fishy about the whole joshi scene today and nothing makes sense. The match was a standard action fun match we've seen so many times before in different combinations.

17:01 of 17:01 - Miyazaki pinned Kuragaki with the Gedo Clutch

 

 

6. Yoshiko Tamura © -vs- Hiroyo Matsumoto - (NEO/NWA Pacific Titles) [* 1/2]

--- I was looking forward to this match as Matsumoto gets a shot at Tamura's belts. But leading up to this match Matsumoto hasn't exactly been stepping it up in the ring. For me it feels like she's taken a step back on her wrestling focus. She's not developing her skills no more and rather the opposite she's become more limited and sloppy. Tamura is also a mixed bag, but can deliver when she wants too. This didn't seem like the day for that. This was a very ordinary affair with aome bigger moves added without really adding too much or making things special. Matsumoto landed her finishers and did some leeps, but it's going to take more then that to beat the champion. And once Tamura started rolling all Matsumoto could do was try and kick out until Tamura landed her ultimate finisher, the Mount Cook, to retain.

20:22 of 20:23 - Tamura pinned Matsumoto after the Mount Cook to retain the NEO/NWA Pacific Titles in her 4th defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: Could have been a fairly ok show had they wanted to, but they're all quitting a dead joshi scene so a dead result as they've got little ot nothing to step it up for.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[air_raid]

2. Hailey Hatred -vs- Basara [*]

--- Ok, this had my interest. A rare Japan appearence from Hailey Hatred that reach tape and against the former Sendai Girl gone bad Basara.

 

Pretty sure that changes.

 

I need to get me some Joshi, now I've been exposed to the current happenings I'm well interested in getting some Sendai stuff and finding out some history on the formation of Black Dahlia - I'm informed Ohata turning heel was somewhat surprising - and Hailey has been opposite Toyota in a tag match which I'm keen to see. Also anything involving Ayumi Kurihara.

 

I rewatched the whole of Pure-Slam on Youtube last night then feeling nostalgic watched Meiko v Ayako Hamada from an old Sendai show. Magic.

[Richie Freebird]

Is there anything going in Japan now that is similar to the old UWFi? I absolutely adored everything about that promotion, from the style to the scoring system. I used to order a few tapes of these lot off Highspots, but now in this post VHS world I don

[PUNQ]

The current joshi scene has kind of lost me now. Breaking down little by little. Some good matches keep popping up, but the scene is so damn shakey with amateurs its so bloody painful to watch now as they have these light entertainment shows instead of something meaningful. God, I miss the old days. And as of 2011 there are a bundle of new small promotions like Reina, Stardom, Diana and a few more making the scene even more watered out....

 

The closest to the UWF(I) style today is Battlarts which had it's moments a couple of years ago, but has pretty much been shit for a while, and FUTEN which is the new favourite promotion of the shoot style fans. Neither promotion does the point rules. But they do focus on the striking game and submissions with no pinfalls or too much running the ropes which seperates it from the other bundle of promotions on the scene. Still both promotions are fairly tiny and the workers are usually of the lower end of the indy scale along with a handful veterans that has come through any of the UWF off-cast shootstyle promotions like UWFI, Fujiwara-Gumi or RINGS years ago. Coinsidentally here is a FUTEN show. Not their best.

 

 

 

 

FUTEN on COMM - July 25, 2010, Kawasaki - (1 1/4 hrs)

 

 

July 25, 2010, Kawasaki - Lazona Kawasaki Plaza Sol

 

1. Manabu Suruga -vs- Kazuki Okubo [* 1/4]

--- Ok fighting, but I wasn't getting too excited by it. Had it's strikes and submission attempts in true Futen philosophy with Suruga getting the win with the arm.

8:34 of 8:33 - Suruga made Okubo submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

2. Taro Nohashi -vs- Peace Man [*]

--- This Peace dude was better then I expected showing some technical skills on how to get out of submission holds, but he was out-matched fairly big and Nohashi killed him with headbutts and suplexes before slapping on the crab hold to finish it.

5:13 of 5:14 - Nohashi made Peace Man submit to a single leg crab

 

 

3. Koichiro Kimura -vs- Makoto Hashi [* 1/4]

--- Hashi got in some throwing, but he was really taken off-guard here when it came to the ground game as Kimura just locked in one lock after the other until he had Hashi where he wanted him choking him out.

8:46 of 8:49 - Kimura defeated Hashi by TKO with a front necklock

 

 

4. Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei & Takahiro Oba -vs- Kengo Mashimo & Tamon Honda & Ryuichi Sekine [* 3/4]

--- More happy wrestling then the serious fighting one usually would associate with Futen with Oba being a real clown in his pokerface way. The fans enjoyed it and it had a lot of energy, but the flavour was more of the indy wrestling kind we usually see with the Sato and the K-Dojo wrestlers. A little stiffin' of course, but it was more the fun stuff that took center stage until Oba stopped messing up and locked in the Camel Clutch for the win.

15:47 of 15:47 - Oba made Sekine submit to a Camel Clutch

 

 

5. Takeshi Ono -vs- Mitsuya Nagai [**]

--- Nagai was dominated most of the match kicking Ono down and locking him in holds. It was really one-sided majority of the way and Nagai truly was the boss. Thats why it was such a surprise when Ono managed to win locking him in a nice looking Octous Hold!

12:11 of 12:11 - Ono made Nagai submit to a Octopus Hold

 

 

COMMENTS: Not the best Futen can bring as this one didn't have that one match that stuck above all. Nagai vs Ono was solid, but it wasn't very climatic.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[Richie Freebird]

The closest to the UWF(I) style today is Battlarts which had it's moments a couple of years ago, but has pretty much been shit for a while, and FUTEN which is the new favourite promotion of the shoot style fans. Neither promotion does the point rules. But they do focus on the striking game and submissions with no pinfalls or too much running the ropes which seperates it from the other bundle of promotions on the scene. Still both promotions are fairly tiny and the workers are usually of the lower end of the indy scale along with a handful veterans that has come through any of the UWF off-cast shootstyle promotions like UWFI, Fujiwara-Gumi or RINGS years ago. Coinsidentally here is a FUTEN show. Not their best.

 

Thanks very much for the well informed reply on that bro. I

[PUNQ]

Just be aware that today Battlarts and FUTEN are very small and got production qualities to match. One camera productions in front of small crowds of 50 to maybe 150. So shoot style isn't as hot as it was in the early 90's. Same goes for most of the fighters who isn't really suited the shoot stytle either IMO. But it has it's moments.

 

Well, come to think of it the 'original Tiger Mask' Sayama's Real Japan promotion does feature a lot of the same workers, but in a bigger arena (Korakuen Hall) and often more entertaining, but they follow straight pro-wrestling rules and not the UWFI way even if a lot of the wrestling can be familiar. And Antonio Inoki's IGF is probable the closest thing to UWFI today. Mainsteam shoot stars trying to do wrestling along with pro legends and oddballs. The quality is usually absolute shit, but can be fun in a very campy way. If not for the wrestling then for Inoki singing jazz and slapping old women around.

 

 

 

 

AJPW on GAORA TV - July 25, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 25, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (1,800 fans)

 

1. Super Crazy -vs- Antonio Thomas - (Junior League '10 - Block A) [*]

--- Almost like a chessgame with Crazy letting Dory Funk Jr trained Thomas have a chance before taking care of the dude just to see what he was good for. And Thomas did have some interesting things like suplexing Crazy into the ring while standing on the second rope, but he was totally out-matched against a veteran international like Super Crazy who ducked Thomas's top rope dive and just jumped him with a ground based moonsault for the pin.

4:51 of 7:38 - Crazy pinned Thomas with a mat based moonsault

 

 

2. BUSHI -vs- Mazada - (Junior League '10 - Block B ) [1/2*]

--- Stupid and wasted with Mazada ripping off BUSHI's mask and throwing the referee out. Yeah, thats a DQ.

3:50 of 4:49 - BUSHI defeated Mazada by DQ

 

 

 

3. Hikaru Sato -vs- Hiroshi Yamato - (Junior League '10 - Block A) [**]

--- Didn't expect to see the cross-dressing DDT wrestler Sato in a All Japan Junior League, but naturally they kept away from informing much about his sexy maids uniform he usually wrestle in and smartly focused on his Pancrase background as a shooter. And Yamato having recently lost his hair was sporting fancy skull cut and colored and looking very focused for this shoot style fight with a lot of striking and a few suplexes and regular wrestling spots to get the crowd hot for this! And Yamato looked real good and I really prefer Sato in serious mode like this. Not sure I liked him winning considering I've seen most of his pro wrestling career and how fucked up some of it has been, but if one ignore that and just think that he was a Pancrase fighter the....ok I'll accept his win.

8:42 of 8:42 - Sato pinned Yamato after German Suplex

 

 

4. Taka Michinoku -vs- KAI - (Junior League '10 - Block B ) [*]

--- Taka is really getting stale. He's done nothing to renew himself in nearly a decade and is only getting more and more limited within his own style, so this one never excelled into anything but a very ordinary Taka match where KAI sadly wasn't let loose to shine and instead tapped in no-time to the facelock.

7:00 of 8:55 - Michinoku made KAI submit to a Just Facelock

 

 

 

5. Jimmy Yang -vs- Shuji Kondo - (Junior League '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- Former WCW wrestler Jimmy Yang back in AJPW for this junior heavyweight tournament and he starts off by facing the powerful Kondo. And it was cool seeing old Jimmy again. He can still go. Even if this one was too short to become anything super special it did have it's share of highlights and Yang was having a fun time in there. And the finisher looked great as Yango did a twisting moonsault press to take Kondo down for the count.

6:52 of 6:52 - Yang pinned Kondo with the Yang Time Body Attack

 

 

6. TARU & Rene Dupree & Hate -vs- Osamu Nishimura & Masa Fuchi & Yasufumi Nakanoue [*]

--- Average opening card style All Japan wrestling with Dupree not looking too good winning over rookie Nakanoue. Not sure what it is with Dupree. No real motivation?

5:46 of 11:30 - Dupree pinned Nakanoue with a Spiral Bomb

 

 

 

7. Minoru -vs- Kaz Hayashi - (Junior League '10 - Block A) [** 1/2]

--- Now here we had a explosive match! The AJPW Junior Heavyweight Champion Hayashi against junior heavyweight star Minoru. And it looked like they wanted to hurt each other! That reversed brainbuster Hayashi did was nasty! And he kept dropping Minoru in all different kinds of painful ways. And then Minoru answered back with the brutality and even did some of Hayashi's own moves on him! Yeah, they both wanted to win this one and it was Minoru who get it with a new modified facebuster after really giving it to Hayashi before that. After the match the Voodoo Murders created chaos with a guy in a La Parka mask attacking Muto who was doing commentating for this show. Muto tried to fight back but this unknown beat him bloody and bombed him through a table. Then he unmasked. KENZO SUZUKI!!! He's back in Japan after a extensive run in Mexico!

10:07 of 15:03 - Minoru pinned Hayashi after a modified facebuster

 

 

 

8. Kohei Suwama & Ryota Hama & Masayuki Kono & Seiya Sanada -vs- Minoru Suzuki & Masakatsu Funaki & Taiyo Kea & Akebono [** 1/2]

--- This was a lot of fun. Just watch those Akebono vs Hama clashes! Those short fatman fight had me screaming of joy! But the main focus was of course Suwama and Suzuki as they are building up for their big Triple Crown match on Auguist 28th. And Suzuki had his gang of Funaki, Akebono & Kea to help him while Suwama's lads Kono, Sanada & Hama was there to help him. So it was kind of the other guys wretling around the aion two in this one and Suzuki and Suwama show they are equals. Then Suzuki was taken down with a series of finishers by the fresh generation and Suwama had a simple time finishing the job pinning Suzuki with the Last Ride. After the match the new generation welcomed back Manabu Soya back from his excursion in Canada and even shaked hands with his generation rival Sanada showing that he's a babyface coming back.

12:43 of 20:05 - Suwama pinned Suzuki after a Last Ride powerbomb

 

 

COMMENTS: All Japan keeps it's product fresh and bringing in a lot of personality. It doesn't always work in the ring, but it feels like their product can explode at any time because there is so many guys to like there! Now Kenzo Suzuki is there into the mix and Manabu Soya is back and hopefully have learned a few things on his trip. And it was a cool seeing Jimmy Yang and Hikaru Sato there too.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

DDT on Samurai TV - July 25, 2010, Tokyo - PART 1 - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 25, 2010, Tokyo - Sumo Hall (8,800 fans)

 

1. Daisuke Sasaki & Takao Soma & Kazuki Hirata -vs- Shigehiro Irie & Akihito & Tatsuhiko Yoshino [* 1/4]

--- A bunch of indy young ones getting to officially open the 2nd annual DDT Sumo Hall show! Decent basic stuff. Did what it was supposed to I guess, but all sort of forgettable with Soma getting to win using the top rope legdrop. I did think Irie looked good in a heavyweight way so he might be developing in the right direction.

11:21 of 11:21 - Soma pinned Akihito after a top rope legdrop

 

 

 

2. Great Kojika & Mr.6 & Riho -vs- Hikaru Sato & Keisuke Ishii & YOSHIHIKO -vs- KUDO & Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda - (Nihonkai 6-Man Tag Title vs UWA Trios Title vs Jiyugaoka 6-Man Tag Title) [*]

--- Dear diary, today I watched a little 6 year(?) old boy wrestle a Stan Hansen blow-up doll. I wonder if he knows what a blow-up doll is really for? What can I say about this? Here we have 3 sets of 6-Person tag titles featuring rather strange teams. The UWA Trios team was headed by a shootfighter in a maids uniform, the most normal(!) team featured Antonio Honda(!) and the winning team was a 68 year old man teaming with a masked boy who's barely started elementary school and a girl who's just turned 13 (to make this review even creapier; doesn't that now make her legal in Japan?). Well, that little girl beat Honda for the belt collection and we'll leave it at that shall we.....?

12:05 of 12:02 - Riho pinned Honda with the Kurukuru Ribbon front clutch. Kojika & Mr.6 & Riho become the UWA Trios & Jiyugaoka 6-Man Tag Champions and retain the Nihonkai 6-Man Tag Title in their 1st defence.

 

 

 

3. MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba -vs- Manabu Nakanishi & Poison Sawada -vs- Toru Owashi & Yukihiro Abe -vs- Muscle Sakai & Jiro Hachimitsu -vs- Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Goro Tsurumi - (Gauntlet Match) [* 1/2]

--- A Gauntlet match to decide the nexy challengers for the KO-D Tag Titles and it started with the teams Muscle Sakai and a fake Shinya Hashimoto against Tomomitsu Matsunaga....alone. Because Goro Tsurumi was still in the toilet and has been there since before the show started. Well as Matsunaga was getting locked in a ankle hold by this Honey dude Goro appeared on the big titan tron coming out of the bathroom and the camera followed him out into the arena, a walk which took nearly 2 minutes and once Goro finally got to the ring Matsunaga had to tap! Classic! Next team to face Sakai & Jiro was Toru Owashi & Yukihiro Abe in a quick nothing match where Abe pinned Sakai with a simple trip and a cover. Nobody was expecting that one! Out to face Owashi & Abe came the Suicide Boyz MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba in a match featuring quite a few kick-out from Abe as the Suicide Boyz kept rolling him up with schoolboys and such for 5 minutes only interupted by Owashi coming in knocking the two down a short amount of time before Abe was back getting beat. And beat he was.... which leaves the Suicide Boyz against Poison Sawada and special guest New Japan's MANABU NAKANISHI!!! And he was there to throw the boyz around with authority! But just about everything involving Nakanishi looked clumsy, stupid and awkward as a motherfucker!!! Just laugh your heads off at this one. Anywho, MIKAMI beat the Poison one with a big leep off a high ladder to win the Gauntlet match for the Suicide Boyz.

5:42 of 5:31 - Jiro made Matsunaga submit to a ankle hold

2:05 of 2:05 - Abe pinned Sakai after a leg trip

5:15 of 5:14 - Toba pinned Abe with a La Magistral

10:42 of 10:37 - MIKAMI pinned Sawada after a Swanton Bomb off the top of a ladder

 

 

 

4. Tajiri -vs- Dick Togo [*]

--- A interesting match-up between two of the 90's better Japanese junior heavyweights who got careers in the US behind them. But this never turned into anything special and the crowd was nearly quiet for what they were doing. The biggest happenings was Tajiri and his green mist. He mist'ed Togo before the bell and for the ending bell blowing the stuff to get the inside cradle and 3-count as the referee Wada was unable to see it both times.

6:22 of 6:22 - Tajiri pinned Togo with a small package

 

 

 

5. Michael Nakazawa© & Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa -vs- Yago Aznable & Enormous MA Hoshitango & Anavel Taro - (No-DQ Captain's Fall Match) [*]

--- DDT comedy with Michael along with the KO-D Tag Champions Takagi & Sawa against the space guys. Yoshiaki Yago, Hoshitango and GENTARO in strange idiotic costumes. This was Shin-kiba level comedy performance at the major Sumo Hall arena and I'm baffled that they didn't come up with something better. Better punchlines. Better costumes. Better wrestling. But this is true DDT! Highlights was the big tables and chairs pyramid spot. That's a re-run from last year and this one was almost just as good as Takagi jumped off a ladder landing on the top chairs knocking everything over, but not touching a wrestler in sight. Though they all played dead afterward and focus shifted to Michael and Yago where they ended up getting tired of being spacemen taking off their helmets and wigs with Yago stiffing Michael shoot style! But the pay-off was Michael getting a rare win!!! A very forced Firebird Splash which landed. Takagi had tears in his eyes for that moment. He was so proud!

14:06 of 14:05 - Nakazawa pinned Yago after a Firebird Splash

 

 

COMMENTS: Match 1 & 3 didn't air of the 3-hour special Samurai TV had of the Sumo Hall show so here you go. Most important for the Nakanishi appearence!

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

DDT on Samurai TV - July 25, 2010, Tokyo - (3 hrs)

 

 

July 25, 2010, Tokyo - Sumo Hall (8,800 fans)

 

 

 

1. Great Kojika & Mr.6 & Riho -vs- Hikaru Sato & Keisuke Ishii & YOSHIHIKO -vs- KUDO & Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda - (Nihonkai 6-Man Tag Title vs UWA Trios Title vs Jiyugaoka 6-Man Tag Title) [*]

--- Dear diary, today I watched a little 6 year(?) old boy wrestle a Stan Hansen blow-up doll. I wonder if he knows what a blow-up doll is really for? What can I say about this? Here we have 3 sets of 6-Person tag titles featuring rather strange teams. The UWA Trios team was headed by a shootfighter in a maids uniform, the most normal(!) team featured Antonio Honda(!) and the winning team was a 68 year old man teaming with a masked boy who's barely started elementary school and a girl who's just turned 13 (to make this review even creapier; doesn't that now make her legal in Japan?). Well, that little girl beat Honda for the belt collection and we'll leave it at that shall we.....?

12:05 of 12:02 - Riho pinned Honda with the Kurukuru Ribbon front clutch. Kojika & Mr.6 & Riho become the UWA Trios & Jiyugaoka 6-Man Tag Champions and retain the Nihonkai 6-Man Tag Title in their 1st defence.

 

 

2. Tajiri -vs- Dick Togo [*]

--- A interesting match-up between two of the 90's better Japanese junior heavyweights who got careers in the US behind them. But this never turned into anything special and the crowd was nearly quiet for what they were doing. The biggest happenings was Tajiri and his green mist. He mist'ed Togo before the bell and for the ending bell blowing the stuff to get the inside cradle and 3-count as the referee Wada was unable to see it both times.

6:22 of 6:22 - Tajiri pinned Togo with a small package

 

 

 

3. Michael Nakazawa© & Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa -vs- Yago Aznable & Enormous MA Hoshitango & Anavel Taro - (No-DQ Captain's Fall Match) [*]

--- DDT comedy with Michael along with the KO-D Tag Champions Takagi & Sawa against the space guys. Yoshiaki Yago, Hoshitango and GENTARO in strange idiotic costumes. This was Shin-kiba level comedy performance at the major Sumo Hall arena and I'm baffled that they didn't come up with something better. Better punchlines. Better costumes. Better wrestling. But this is true DDT! Highlights was the big tables and chairs pyramid spot. That's a re-run from last year and this one was almost just as good as Takagi jumped off a ladder landing on the top chairs knocking everything over, but not touching a wrestler in sight. Though they all played dead afterward and focus shifted to Michael and Yago where they ended up getting tired of being spacemen taking off their helmets and wigs with Yago stiffing Michael shoot style! But the pay-off was Michael getting a rare win!!! A very forced Firebird Splash which landed. Takagi had tears in his eyes for that moment. He was so proud!

7:37 of 14:05 - Nakazawa pinned Yago after a Firebird Splash

 

 

 

4. Naomichi Marufuji -vs- Kenny Omega [* 1/4]

--- This was originally going to be Marufuji against Kota Ibushi in a dream spot monkey match, but Ibushi was injured in New Japan's Best of the Super Junior Tournament Final against Devitt so his tag partner gets thrown into the match as sub. Not a bad choice as he's nearly a mirror Ibushi wrestler except that he got curly blond hair and not Japanese. But Marufuji was injured TOO! About 5 minutes into this 20-min match! Omega ran Marufuji knee first into the turnbuckle, but Marufuji landed on his shoulder/arm was hurt but he continued bravely! Even if it was a injury that would keep him out for over 4 months! It was his right arm that was fucked-up and it looked painful watching him take those suplexes from Omega including a Croyt's Wrath-style German off the second rope!!! After kicking-out and recovering it was time for the Marufuji comeback which ended with a spectacular but flat manner as Marufuji just threw Omega on his neck before covering him. The match was naturally stumbling along and could never reach it's potential after the illfortunate happend.

20:07 of 20:06 - Marufuji pinned Omega after a modified brainbuster

 

 

 

5. Danshoku Dino -vs- HG & RG - (Handicap Match) [*]

--- Gay! Gay! Gay! Dino the ultimate perv homo against the lost hero fags of Hustle in Razor Ramon Hard Gay and Real Gay!!! And the match opened with a minute long sensual kiss between Dino and HG to sexy music before RG came in with a chair and knocked Dino down! Guess he was jelous. Well, Dino and HG got back into the gay stuff when HG had Dino in the dick-claw Cobra Twist and Dino shouted "MORE! COME ON!". Then Dino took a bite off HG's dick on the face scraping business. RG did make the save but HG kicked him out of the match so he could have Dino all to himself. And the match turned very gay pride with HG trying to take Dino's beating like a man until injured Takanashi and a wheelchaired Hayabusa rushing out to have him stop HG's misary. No....WAIT! That's was a spoof! It was Ken Ohka pretending to be Hayabusa coming out fooling the fans in the Sumo Hall! That was dickish! Well, Dino did end it then and there locking in a cross-kneehold. The match started fantastic, but it kind of went downhill from there and not the gay classic one should have gotten.

14:14 of 14:03 - Dino made HG submit to a cross-kneelock

 

 

 

6. Daisuke Sekimoto © -vs- HARASHIMA - (KO-D Title) [** 3/4]

--- And then finally for something good! No, something very good! But sadly not great..... But this follows the trend with the KO-D Title matches this year of being real solid and serious. Not to mention impact brutal. This was slowly built starting out with only some minor clubbing blows and highlights with HARASHIMA looking rather cocky at first before a very grumpy Sekimoto took over the fight and did things his way with lariats and using his power to bend and knock the DDT star down. Then came the Germans! Regular German Suplex. Kick-Out! Cross-arm German Suplex! Kick-Out!!! And then it was on! HARASHIMA with the knee attacks! From everywhere! Sekimoto was peppered with the Somato until HARASHIMA landed his new diving Somato springboarding himself off the top rope from the apron side. And that my friends was the happy ending for the DDT'er! And so starts HARASHIMA's 4th reign as DDT's top wrestler with only Sanshiro Tagai's 5 times as champ ahead of him in the record books.

24:22 of 24:21 - HARASHIMA pinned Sekimoto after a springboard Somato double-knee attack to become the 32nd KO-D Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: The Sumo Hall show didn't live up to it's potential. The main event of course was the good one and the only thing to really save the show. Marufuji vs Omega was hurt by injury and most of the comedy half-bombed in the big arena atmosphere.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate on GAORA TV - January 23 & July 29, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

DRAGON GATE USA - January 23, 2010, Chicago, IL - The Congress Theater (1,028 fans)

 

1. Masaaki Mochizuki © -vs- Davey Richards - (FIP Title) [** 1/2]

--- An epic battle attempt. Lacked a little realness to make it work 100%, but they made the submission work interesting by locking in a bunch of them and Richards did a lovely wreckless tope dive into the crowds! They did this in a very competitive way and both it kept going back and forth with the strikes and submission until it was Richards who regained the FIP Title using a tringle choke to make Mochizuki tap.

15:50 of 19:06 - Richards made Mochizuki submit to a triangle choke to become the 11th FIP Champion.

 

 

2. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino -vs- Shingo Takagi & YAMATO -vs- Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson - (3-Way Elimination) [**]

--- A little difficult to get into with all the guys in the ring and it didn't look like Shingo was very comfortable in ther with the Jacksons, but it had it's entertainment value. Especially since the right team won with Yoshino grabbing both falls and Shingo getting a ton of blows to the head.

(14:54) - Yoshino pinned Matt after a lightning Spiral

15:13 of 18:59 - Yoshino made Takagi submit to the Sol Naciente

 

 

3. BxB Hulk © -vs- Dragon Kid - (Open the Freedom Gate Title) [** 1/4]

--- Freedom Gate main event with Hulk making the 1st US defence of the newly created Open the Freedom Gate Title. And the challenger is Dragon Kid! That promised to be a good match. And it was at times, but not the hyped explosion that one had hoped. They still had a hot ending with all the finishers coming in order until Hulk won with the modified version of the E.V.O. to beat Dragon Kid.

And after the bout there was a lot of in-ring brawling with everyone hating everyone for no appearent reason.

14:21 of 17:06 - Hulk pinned Dragon Kid after thye E.V.O.P. to retain the Open the Freedom Gate Title in his 2nd defence.

 

 

July 29, 2010, Osaka - Kyocera Dome Osaka Sky Hall (600 fans)

 

4. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii & Gamma -vs- Shingo Takagi & YAMATO & Cyber Kong [**]

--- Veteran gundan still knowing how to handle the new power elite in Dragon Gate with Mochizuki landing his new pet finisher. The axekick on a standing opponent. Cyber Kong was the victim in this one. The match was ok without having full steam all the way, but with Shingo's taped shoulder he at least had some focus while still being the teams saviour most of the time.

16:34 of 16:35 - Mochizuki pinned Kong after a axekick

 

 

5. Tigers Mask © -vs- CIMA - (Osaka Pro Title vs Open the Brave Gate Title) [** 1/2]

--- Double-title match in the Osaka Pro vs Dragon Gate feud and it's a criss-cross of champions as Dragon Gate icon CIMA is the Osaka Pro champion while Osaka's own Tigers Mask hold the Dragon Gate belt. And CIMA is the babyface as Tigers Mask is a heel, even in Osaka and he had his gang with him who helped how take care of CIMA. The Dragon Gate wrestler was very close when landing the Meteora, but Black Buffalo held CIMA away from making the cover on that one and it was time for Tigers Mask to take over kicking his head in loaded with a cane. But we know CIMA is superman and still kicked out of the Tiger Suplexes! But then Tigers Mask pulled out a modified Tiger Suplex. Almost a Tiger Suplex '85 except he had the high arm low and in front of CIMA. And that gave Tigers Mask the big unpopular win becoming Osaka Pro Champion again and keeping the Brave Gate Title still! Good showing from the two.

16:56 of 16:56 - Tigers Mask pinned CIMA with a modified Tiger Suplex to become the 19th Osaka Pro Champion and retain the Open the Brave Gate Title in his 4th defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: Japanese version of the January 23 '10 Dragon Gate USA show and an hour from Osaka where the CIMA vs Tigers Mask double-title match was a big deal.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate on GAORA TV - July 30 & August 1 & 5, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

July 30, 2010, Kobe Uwaya Gekijyo (400 fans)

 

1. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii -vs- BxB Hulk & Naoki Tanizaki - (Summer Adventure Tag League IV - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- The 4 annual Summer Adventure Tag League starts off with veterans Fujii & Mochizuki taking care of a bald and confused Hulk and his easily-jobbed sidekick Tanizaki. And you can guess who lost.... Fujii German'ed Tanizaki for the three in a match that didn't seem too focused happening in a dark arena.

12:53 of 15:45 - Fujii pinned Tanizaki with a German Suplex

 

 

- Highlights from the July 30, 2010, Kobe & July 31, 2010, Kyoko shows

 

August 1, 2010, Kyoto KBS Hall (820 fans)

 

2. Shingo Takagi & YAMATO -vs- Yasushi Kanda & Kzy - (Summer Adventure Tag League IV - Block B ) [* 3/4]

--- Last years winners of the Summer Adventure Tag League Shingo & YAMATO face the sleezy heels Kanda & Kazy. And the heels tried all the dirty little tricks they know smashing chairs, throwing powder and ringing their bells non-stop. Well, almost non-stop....until they were stopped! Powered down! And crushed!

13:04 of 15:24 - Takagi pinned Kanda with the Made In Japan

 

 

3. Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness -vs- Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi - (Summer Adventure Tag League IV - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- The things standing out the most for me in this one was seeing Doi back with straight black hair again! Looked a lot less dollish then his blondy champion look. The actual action was your standard stuff with Yoshino & Doi looking good, but ending up getting the semi-upset with Yokosuka taking in with his Jumbo-no Kachi!gatame lariat!

13:54 of 13:58 - Yokosuka pinned Doi after a lariat

 

 

August 5, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (1,800 fans)

 

4. Jinsei Shinzaki & Terumasa Ishizawa(BxB Hulk) -vs- Yasushi Kanda & Kenichiro Arai [* 1/2]

--- BxB Hulk doing a Jinsei Shinzaki gimmick with the coolest moment being him do the rope walks. But what was most nice was seeing Shinzaki again. With so little Michinoku Pro footage coming out these days (3 TV shows all 2010) it's rare one gets to see him these days. And he did his pattented top rope shoulder tackle and powerbomb with the praying and that made me pleased.

9:28 of 10:58 - Shinzaki pinned Arai after a powerbomb

 

 

5. Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi -vs- CIMA & Gamma - (Summer Adventure Tag League IV - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- Popular teams, average match. Made worse by CIMA tripping on the ropes on his springboard dropkick. And on this night the right team won as Doi slide kicked Gamma down for the count.

9:38 of 11:09 - Doi pinned Gamma after a Bakatare Sliding Kick

 

 

6. PAC & Mark Haskins -vs- Cyber Kong & Kagetora - (Summer Adventure Tag League IV - Block B )

--- The end shown of Team UK against Cyber Kong & Kagetora. Looked very weak actually. Very low impact. And Team UK won with PAC landing the SSP after Haskins had Tombstoned him in position.

1:03 of 15:15 - PAC pinned Kagetora after a Shooting Star Press

 

 

7. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii -vs- Shingo Takagi & YAMATO - (Summer Adventure Tag League IV - Block B ) [** 1/2]

--- Started out average, but got real exciting at the end when Fujii & Mochizuki's machinery took over with the axekicks, lariats and Fujii German's! And what a YAMATO moment when he kicked out of the German Suplex! That was a sure win, but NO!!! And from there one started expecting a big comeback from Kamikaze which.... didn't happen and Mochizuki locked in some kind of bending sleeper to make YAMATO tap! Super ending!

15:37 of 17:11 - Mochizuki made YAMATO submit to modified sleeper

 

 

COMMENTS: The first days of the Summer Adventure Tag League was ok. Especially the main event on August 5th!

 

 

--PUNQ--