Guide to Japanese Wrestling 2010

[TotalDebacle]

Really enjoyed reading your reviews. As someone that doesn't know much about Japanese wrestling, where do these companies stand in the overall picture? The attendances seem very small, and the match quality doesn't seem too high, so I'm assuming most of these are Indy-type ones for lack of a better term?

[PUNQ]

NOAH on G+SN - August 4, 2010, Tokyo - (2 1/4 hrs)

 

 

August 4, 2010, Tokyo - Differ Ariake (1,100 fans)

 

1. Takeshi Morishima -vs- Makoto Hashi [* 1/2]

--- The first ever NOAH match was Hashi vs Morishima, and for this 10th Anniversary show they do a re-run of that one letting them open this show aswell. Hashi is no longer a regular with his career not going the way he had hoped while Morishima is one of the top stars in the company. And it was not a super match with only a couple of bigger highlights before Morishima decided to murder Hashi with a lariat.

8:36 of 8:36 - Morishima pinned Hashi after a lariat

 

 

2. Ricky Marvin & Atsushi Aoki -vs- Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kento Miyahara [**]

--- Cool junior heavyweight action as Aoki started bleeding the hard way looking kind of pissed about it and Marvin flying wonderfully piruetting out of the ring for his spectacular extravagansa! The wrestling overall was solid even if it was clear it wasn't a big style match. So it did what it was supposed to do and Aoki could use his submission skills to make Miyahara submit.

15:00 of 15:01 - Aoki made Miyahara submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

3. Akira Taue & Mohammed Yone & Genba Hirayanagi -vs- Akitoshi Saito & Tamon Honda & Shuhei Taniguchi [* 1/4]

--- Slow, half-pensionist style match with Taue and Genba slapstick, but it also featured some passing the touch kind of thing between veteran Honda and growing heavyweight Taniguchi as Honda helped him perfect the Rolling Hell shoulder lock. But since Honda is now an dropped outsider he was picked to do the job as NOAH protects it's own and Yone got to pin the aging man with a top rope legdrop.

16:40 of 16:41 - Yone pinned Honda after a top rope legdrop

 

 

4. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Masao Inoue -vs- Kentaro Shiga & Taiji Ishimori [*]

--- With tired old souls like Inoue and Shiga there it was going to be a limited fight and when the junior heavyweights didn't want to over-shadow them we had a very average experience with a basic backslide cradle as finisher with the GHC Junior Champion beating freelancer Shiga.

13:49 of 13:50 - Kanemaru pinned Shiga with a backslide

 

 

5. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano -vs- Jun Akiyama & Yoshinari Ogawa [1/2*]

--- Takayama in white tights like at the NOAH debut and he beats Ogawa in 3 minutes with the Everest German!

3:13 of 3:10 - Takayama pinned Ogawa with a German Suplex

 

 

6. Takashi Sugiura & KENTA -vs- Takeshi Morishima & Go Shiozaki - (2/3 Falls) [** 1/2]

--- Bam! Morishima opened like a beast and beat the GHC Heavyweight Champion in less then a minute! Lucky for Sugiura this was a 2/3 Falls match and he had a chance to fight back. And that he did after a rough start get got back into the action like a bulldog and won two straight falls nearly on his own beating Shiozaki and most of all get one back from Morishima using the Olympic Slam effectively and win the damn fight. KENTA faked shaking hands with the champion and nearly got in his Go 2 Sleep, but it ended in nothing and the champ was left free of trouble the rest of the evening. The match was never as explosive as the start, but they still filled the time well with KENTA and Shiozaki also adding their stuff to make it a good match in honor of the first NOAH main event which was also a 2/3 Falls bout.

0:54 of 0:55 - Morishima pinned Sugiura after a backdrop suplex

18:05 of 18:03 - Sugiura pinned Shiozaki after a Olympic Slam

12:04 of 12:04 - Sugiura pinned Morishima after a Olympic Slam

 

 

COMMENTS: Slower paced show, but I felt it worked better on this day then usual. They weren't really there to do anything fantastic except copy a little bit off the first ever NOAH show and play off that for nostalgia with the current crew.

 

 

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[PUNQ]

Really enjoyed reading your reviews. As someone that doesn't know much about Japanese wrestling, where do these companies stand in the overall picture? The attendances seem very small, and the match quality doesn't seem too high, so I'm assuming most of these are Indy-type ones for lack of a better term?

Well, the scene overall has taken a hard knock the last decade. While the big established companies have had a big reality check on their busienss, there have turned out a bunch of small hobby based companies that barely draw anything at all. Just about anyone can promote a show now as the wrestlers are mostly friends and help each other out for little pay. 'You work for me cheap and I'll work for you cheap' kind of mentality. The big companies draw anywhere from 200 to 1,000 for house shows while closer to 1,500 to 2,000 for the next level shows and with an occational 5,000 to 10,000 show every few months for the big ones. While the rest of the 100 plus mini-promotions get their 30 to 500 fans depending on importance of the show. And while the popularity has shrunk, so has the quality and importance of the matches. To the point that it's just become easy forgettable eye entertainment of no importance what so ever.....sadly. Too many matches that mean nothing and don't try to become anything either and you can sense the passion and intelligence of the wrestling fading.....the current scene does NOT represent why I fell in love with puroresu in the first place.

 

 

 

 

NOAH on Samurai TV - August 5, 2010, Tokyo - (3 hrs)

 

 

August 5, 2010, Tokyo - Differ Ariake (1,100 fans)

 

1. Genba Hirayanagi -vs- Alex Payne [1/2*]

--- Genba having a lazy day at work and Payne's best just wasn't good enough. The was down-right uninteresting and of course the Japanese guy beats the foreign kid.

11:47 of 11:48 - Hirayanagi pinned Payne after a lariat

 

 

2. Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin -vs- Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takeshi Okita [3/4*]

--- Could have been good, but wasn't. Nothing special and on top of that execution wasn't working out. So let's just forget about this one. Marvin wins with a simple cradle after a kick from Nakajima had backfired.

12:30 of 12:37 - Marvin pinned Okita with a schoolboy

 

 

3. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa -vs- Tamon Honda & Atsushi Aoki [1/4*]

--- This has really been a shitty show so far. Not exactly a 10 year celebration. And the most interesting thing about this one was Taue's fetish of touching the other guys penises. Old Ogawa beast old Honda with a lucky cradle.

12:26 of 12:26 - Ogawa pinned Honda with a small package

 

 

4. Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone -vs- Takeshi Morishima & Takuma Sano [3/4*]

--- Absolutely no excitement! How is it possible to give so little on what should be such a festive night?! It's their 10th Aniversary for Christ sake! Maybe they partied a little too hard the night before because the way this is headed it might become one of the worst NOAH shows in their history.... Simple pin for Yone with the Muscle Buster over Sano, which was slightly surprising.

12:22 of 12:22 - Yone pinned Sano after a Muscle Buster

 

 

5. Yoshihiro Takayama & Go Shiozaki -vs- Masao Inoue & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [3/4*]

--- This just isn't a super show and I guess it's not supposed to be because they are just not trying. Only the lightest of their stuff done without much passion. And the wrestling with Inoue was super slow. And I'm ignoring his comedy shit. At least there was a few second in there where they did a little, but it was also a long match before Go finally nailed Inoue down.

18:43 of 18:43 - Shiozaki pinned Inoue after the Go Flasher

 

 

6. Jun Akiyama -vs- Shuhei Taniguchi [* 1/4]

--- At least it had some good parts which is more then what one can say about the other matches so far. And the moments that really stuck out was Akiyama's knee to Taniguchi which looked to knock him quite silly along with Akiyama's front neck locks setting up Akiyama's Exploder's which was how the veteran won the match over the guy that the match was really about. A trial match for Taniguchi where he barely had any spotlight at all since it was all about Akiyama! Great focus, boys! And this was the last of Taniguchi's Rush 10 Match Series, a series that was neither rushed taking nearly 3 years, nor did ANYTHING to highten Taniguchi's profile. After 10 matches he got 0 wins, 0 draws and yeah....10 loses. Great booking NOAH! You established that the only NOAH produced heavyweight the last 10 years is a complete loser!

17:53 of 17:53 - Akiyama pinned Taniguchi after a Exploder

 

 

7. Takashi Sugiura -vs- KENTA [* 3/4]

--- I wanted to like it, but this had so little life too that it wasn't the dream main event one could have hoped for. It really was a 10 minute match streached out over 26 minutes with hot one-move moments being the formula and in between close to nothing. Not even energy. Both did land their finishers as Sugiura kicked out of teh Go 2 Sleep and KENTA of the Olympic Slam which has been very effective for Sugiura lately. So Sugiura had to try something different to take care of the junior and he did so going after the ankle making KENTA tap being unable to move.

26:36 of 26:36 - Sugiura made KENTA submit to a ankle hold

 

 

COMMENTS: Disappoitning Anniversary show honoring 10 years of NOAH.

 

 

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NJPW on Samurai TV - August 6, 2010, Tokyo - (3 hrs)

 

 

August 6, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (1,950 fans)

 

1. Giant Bernard -vs- Wataru Inoue - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- Not a bad match, it's just that Inoue isn't exactly the life of the party for opening the 20th G-1 Climax tournament. These two usually have decent chemestry, but it's never going to be a great match as long as Inoue is a heavyweight and thankfully Bernard grabbed the first points of the tournament catching Inoue by the neck and slaming him down for the pin.

9:19 of 9:19 - Bernard pinned Inoue with a neck-hanging bomb

 

 

2. Manabu Nakanishi -vs- Toru Yano - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [* 3/4]

--- Nakanishi was kind of dominant. There was short periods where Yano out-smarted the gorilla, but the strength of the ape was just too much Yano who was German'ed for the 3 in almost no time. Yano was nearly close at one time helf-nelson suplexing the big man, but this wasn't the night for Yano to look too strong.

7:31 of 7:30 - Nakanishi pinned Yano with a German Suplex

 

 

 

3. Prince Devitt -vs- Strong Man - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [** 1/2]

--- Now here is an odd couple in the G-1 Tournament. Devitt, while one of 2010 top performers, is a junior heavyweight and he is in this heavyweight series against a monster of a guy! Strong Man is back and he's crazy enough to make this match so damn fun. Just catching a flying Devitt and then lifting him up military style and throwing him several rows out into a unexpercting crowd consisting of mostly ladies!!! I think one of them got Devitt in her face, but who cares! That was insane! Naturally Devitt had to work around Strong Man flying out of the ring and landing big footstomps and using his speed and agility to trouble the super human, but Strong Man deserves credit for not looking too out of place. His wrestling looked more powerful then embarrassingwhich is just what they need to aim for with him. And not only that made the match so enjoyable, they also gave the win to Devitt!!! Lucky cradle of course, but just the moment needed!

7:36 of 7:36 - Devitt pinned Strong Man with a front cradle

 

 

4. Hirooki Goto & Ryusuke Taguchi -vs- Satoshi Kojima & El Samurai [**]

--- Kojima back working in New Japan after leaving All Japan! He's here for the G-1 Climax tournament, but have no match on the first day just like Goto. The fans where happy to see Kojima again and he made sure he gave some love back warming up with some good wrestling before the more serious matches start coming later in the tour. The end was mentor and student combo of Samurai and Taguchi who took care of with Samurai countering the Dodon for a near fall before getting.... Dodon'ed.

13:51 of 13:50 - Taguchi pinned Samurai after the Dodon

 

 

 

5. Go Shiozaki -vs- Yujiro Takahashi - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [**]

--- NOAH's Shiozaki is this years big rival company outsider. Marufuji was originally also joining, but had to pull out because of a injury happening in his match with Kenny Omega on July 25th. So Shiozaki has to fight for NOAH's honor all by himself. And first up is No Limit's Yujiro. Moment of the match was when Go just lifted Yujrio up and looked to hang him on the ropes, but instead threw him out on the hard apronside! The two mixed well, but both also lack that little extra in their execution and personality so the performance was a little vanilla. Yet, they traded moonsault spots with Go blocking Takahashi's and Shiozaki landing his. And from there is was the easy way home for the NOAH star landing the lariat and then the Go Flasher for the win!

10:37 of 10:36 - Shiozaki pinned Takahashi after the Go Flasher

 

 

 

6. Karl Anderson -vs- Hiroshi Tanahashi - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [* 3/4]

--- Wow! Anderson in on! Beats the former IWGP Heavyweight Champions with his Ace Crushers! Anderson landed a wonderful one jumping off the top rope and the win came when he caught Tanahashi jumping off the top rope! What an upset. The match was decent, but it was more those moments that was real high while the rest was average.

11:29 of 11:42 - Anderson pinned Tanahashi after the Gun Stun

 

 

 

7. Tetsuya Naito -vs- Togi Makabe - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- Hmmmm.... wonder what it was. Didn't get into this one, but it wasn't a bad match. Maybe it was the slow start and not a explosive enough end that killed it for me. Regardless this was a happy win for Naito who managed to roll up the IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the upset with the fans strongly behind him!

14:35 of 14:34 - Naito pinned Makabe with a Victory Roll

 

 

 

8. Yuji Nagata -vs- Shinsuke Nakamura - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [** 1/4]

--- Good solid wrestling between two former multi-time IWGP Heavyweight Champions. Wouldn't say it was the hottest match or the one with the freshest action, but they have a certain standard and delivered at that even if little really stood out in the end. But of course watching Nakamura go for those holds and Nagata kicking Nakamura hard and winning with that pattented backdrop suplex of his made the match enjoyable to watch. Basically what you'd expect from the two.

17:43 of 17:43 - Nagata pinned Nakamura with a backdrop suplex hold

 

 

COMMENTS: Solid opening to the 20th G-1 Climax with some of the results being bigger and more exciting then the actul matches on the opening day.

 

 

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[PUNQ]

NJPW on Samurai TV - August 7, 2010, Osaka - (2 3/4 hrs)

 

 

August 7, 2010, Osaka Prefectural Gym (4,500 fans)

 

1. Manabu Nakanishi & Tajiri -vs- Tetsuya Naito & Takashi Iizuka [3/4*]

--- Sloppy and at times lifeless opener. Nakanishi is cool and you expect him to be awkward, but the timing wasn't sitting right with this match and they didn't do all that much either except targeting Tajiri's bad leg and stuff in a slow manner before the unneccessary DQ came.

13:19 of 12:41 - Nakanishi & Tajiri defeated Naito & Iizuka by DQ

 

 

2. Prince Devitt -vs- Karl Anderson - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [** 1/2]

--- The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion against one-half of the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions, but they are about the same size. Anderson is someone I'm struggling with taking serious at this level, but they are booking him well and made that Gun Stun neckbreaker a deadly move beating Tanahashi with it the day before. He got it in here too, but sadly for him out on the apron side and Devitt had a 20 count to recover. Anderson got a few more near falls, but the real spectacular stuff came from Devitt like his crazy dive over the railings almost not getting his mid-air turn-around before impact, and the top rope double-footstomp. The end came with the Bloody Sunday and Devitt the junior heavyweight has got a 100% score after 2 days of the tournament! Good match for sure!

10:45 of 10:41 - Devitt pinned Anderson after the Bloody Sunday DDT

 

 

3. Giant Bernard -vs- Yuji Nagata - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [**]

--- Heavyweight stars. The two don't have anything more to offer then they did in 2006. Maybe even a little bit less as they are getting stale in their old ways. The match was solid with Nagata working over Bernard's arm hoping for a submission with Bernard selling the pain when going for impact moves. But the pain didn't stop him from dropping Nagata down hard a few times, and enough times, to have him beat with a belly-to-belly piledriver.

13:07 of 13:05 - Bernard pinned Nagata after a Bernard Driver

 

 

4. Go Shiozaki -vs- Wataru Inoue - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [**]

--- An attempt at an half-epic exhaustion battle between the NOAH star Shiozaki and NJPW's not-such-a-star Inoue. But a lot of the execution was just way too weak and without confidence. Plus these two don't really know how to work with each other so there was a few minor hick-ups. Shiozaki tried to be a heel looking like the kindest heel in history. He just don't know how to do that. Inoue tried to be the fighting spirit babyface, but he doesn't have that aura. So as you understand it was a lot of trying and not too much succeeding. Reagardless they got some reaction and the effort was almost there so it wasn't a total waste. At least Go managed to beat the New Japan heavyweight loser using the Go Flasher.

16:04 of 16:03 - Shiozaki pinned Inoue after the Go Flasher

 

 

5. Satoshi Kojima -vs- Yujiro Takahashi - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- Yujiro attacked the returned hero during Kojima's enterance and had fairly good control of the match getting in majority of the offence. But then....Stan Hansen style.... LARIAT!!! And Kojima just walked out the winner easy as that.

8:21 of 8:20 - Kojima pinned Takahashi after a lariat

 

 

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi -vs- Strong Man - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- Strong Man match again. And this time it's Tanahashi who's got to work around his limited style. And it was decent while it lasted with Tanahashi running and running and Strong Man standing there looking strong. But he gets to static and Tanahashi could just run in the offence landing two straight Sling Blades before splashing the muscle man from the top to beat him clean.

6:50 of 6:50 - Tanahashi pinned Strong Man after a top rope bodypress

 

 

7. Toru Yano -vs- Togi Makabe - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [* 1/4]

--- Another quick bout that didn't bring all that much except a surprising result as Yano managed to lure the IWGP Heavyweight Champion down with one of his speciality cradles after cheating all match long. So that big champ has no points so far.....

7:18 of 7:18 - Yano pinned Makabe with the Uragasumi cradle

 

 

8. Hirooki Goto -vs- Shinsuke Nakamura - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [** 3/4]

--- Then for the biggest match of the show with last years G-1 Climax winner Goto facing the guy that's been the top dog for most of the year in Nakamura. And the best thing about this match was Nakamura laying in those knees from all angles and anywhere he could. Goto on the other hand worked a stubborn heavyweight style and got back at the ex-champ. Even fight with a slight advanatge to Nakamura. They traded near falls and managed to create the excitement and then came the decider. Goto locked the legs in a STF or Indian Death Lock way and then rolled around and up to have Nakamura trapped and pinned for the big win!

16:51 of 16:51 - Goto pinned Nakamura with a foot-arrangement cradle

 

 

COMMENTS: Another solid day without the super wrestling. Devitt again proves he is one of the best workers in the company getting a good match out of Anderson while Nakamura vs Goto delivered the main event wrestling.

 

 

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ICE RIBBON on COMM - August 7, 2010, Tokyo - (1 1/2 hrs)

 

 

August 7, 2010, Tokyo - Itabashi Green Hall

 

1. Natsuki*Taiyo -vs- Sayaka Obihiro [1/2*]

--- Natsuki dominating the rookie in a very basic formula veteran vs rookie match-up until Natsuki made her tap with less the 30 seconds left on the time.

9:33 of 9:32 - Natsuki made Obihiro submit to a Boston Crab

 

 

2. Hikari Minami & Riho & Tsukushi -vs- Emi Sakura & Hamuko Hoshi & Tsukasa Fujimoto - (Elimination) [*]

--- Plenty of energy, mess-ups and charm. You never get a straight good experience with Ice Ribbon. You get it all in one bunch, good and bad. At least they tried to have a fun match with Minami winning the match pushing Sakura off the apron side.

7:35 - Minami & Riho & Tsukishi pinned Hoshi with a triple cradle

9:50 - Sakura & Fujimoto pinned Riho with a double cover

11:54 - Tsukushi pinned Fujimoto with a Tiger Suplex

13:10 - Sakura pinned Tsukushi with a cradle reversal

14:02 of 14:08 - Minami defeated Sakura via Over The Top Rope

 

 

3. Jun Kasai & Miyako Matsumoto © -vs- Isami Kodaka & Chii Tomiya - (Ice Ribbon International Tag Title) [*]

--- Tomiya bringing someone more hardcore with her to counter Jun Kasai's involvment. Not that there was any hardcore in this except for a toy baseball bat. Amusing in it's stupidity of low blows and small girls. And in the end they got the belts off the champs when Tomiya got the win with a lousy cradle.

11:03 of 11:02 - Tomiya pinned Matsumoto with a modified crucifix cradle. Isami & Tomiya become the Ice Ribbon International Tag Champions.

 

 

4. Ryo Mizunami & Kagetsu -vs- Makoto & Hikaru Shida [* 1/2]

--- Sendai Girls vs Ice Ribbon. And it was actually a 100% serious fight. Thats rare in this company. But they built on Sendai Girls surperiority with the Ice Ribbon ladies having to fight hard to prove they were pro-wrestlers too. Lets just say they had a hard time proving they were up to their level, but this was a fairly solid performance regardless. And I'm glad Mizunami & Kagetsu took care of business like they did showing a attitude and knowing they were better.

15:20 of 15:18 - Mizunami pinned Shida after a top rope legdrop

 

 

5. Nanae Takahashi -vs- Kazumi Shimouma [* 1/4]

--- Damn, how Shimouma got to look credible against Nanae. Nanae is rarely this selfless and when she's like that it's against a waste of timer Shimouma?! God, I hate that. She got so much offence and cradles that she actually had Nanae beat a few times but a very kind referee didn't count the three even if Nanae was far from kicking out. And the Shimouma counters and near win seemed to never stop, but finally Nanae started landing a few finishers and it stopped a very tired Shimouma. The match wasn't terrible. It had it's moments and the fans was into it, but it had it's share of bad stuff to on top of the annoying stuff like Shimouma not being able to bridge over on her figure-four jack knife cradle and stuff.

18:39 of 18:39 - Takahashi pinned Shimouma after a lariat

 

 

COMMENTS: A overall half-decent show from Ice Ribbon. Most matches seemed to have at least something to offer, but it was never anything super special about this one.

 

 

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[PUNQ]

NEO on COMM - August 7, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

August 7, 2010, Tokyo - Itabashi Green Hall (110 fans)

 

1. Ran Yu Yu -vs- Kagetsu [*]

--- Ran gave the inexperienced Sendai wrestler a fair chance. No way was Kagetsu going to have anything more then a showcase battle against such a veteran as Yu Yu, but made a ok profile on her way to loss....

11:17 of 11:17 - Yu Yu pinned Kagetsu after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

2. Sakura Hirota -vs- DJ Nira [1/4*]

--- Two comedy performers going forever.....painful!

14:00 of 13:59 - Hirota made Nira submit to a figure-four leglock reversal

 

 

3. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Misaki Ohata -vs- Hailey Hatred & Tomoko Morii [*]

--- A few nice highspots and a ordinary match with Matsumoto possibly trying to establish a new finisher for herself as she dropped down hard with a senton on Morii. Of course it's going to take more then that to win fans over as she does look half-retarted a lot of the time and the sequences with Hailey wasn't exactly good.

12:54 of 12:54 - Matsumoto pinned Morii after a top rope senton

 

 

4. Yuki Miyazaki & Tanny Mouse -vs- Aya Yuki & Sawako Shimano [1/2*]

--- NEO Machine Guns.....5 more months of matches......then I'm free from this misery!

14:31 of 14:30 - Tanny made Shimano submit to the NEO Muscle Spark

 

 

5. Nanae Takahashi -vs- Nagisa Nozaki [1/4*]

--- The excitement continues. Will Nozaki come out of the match without any serious injury?! NO!!! She managed to dislocate her shoulder again. 'How?' you say? She slapped Nanae in the face..... No, Nanae didn't go balistic on her. She actually dislocated the shoulder by delivering a weak slap to the face. It really is time to quit the business when your body can't take that.

7:41 of 7:41 - Takahashi defeated Nozaki by Referee Stop when Nozaki's dislocated her right shoulder

 

 

6. Yoshiko Tamura © -vs- Ryo Mizunami - (NEO/NWA Pacific Titles) [* 1/4]

--- The NEO Double Champion against the holder of another double title, the JWP Junior and POP Title, in Sendai Girls' Mizunami. And like Tamura's last defence, this was really nothing special. Tamura gave the challenger a great deal of offence time, but it was rarely anything that was exciting or looked dangerous. Mizunami did create some momentum with the shoulder hold she kept going back to and she did land the top rope legdrop which is her main finisher, but she didn't really have Tamura much in danger as Tamura in her slow, lifeless and calculated way took the match whenever she wanted. And again she resorted to the Mount Cook drop to retain the belt for the 5th consecutive time!

20:00 of 20:00 - Tamura pinned Mizunami after the Mount Cook to retain the NEO/NWA Pacific Titles in her 5th defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: A surprisingly tame show. Even less fans then usual and even less of an effort from the wrestlers. The air is running out of the NEO Balloon.....

 

 

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[PUNQ]

BJPW on COMM - August 7, 2010, Tokyo - (1 1/2 hrs)

 

 

August 7, 2010, Tokyo - Hexagon Bridge Shopping Center Parking Lot Special Ring (580 fans)

 

1. Atsushi Ohashi & Kazuki Hashimoto -vs- Yuichi Taniguchi & Takumi Tsukamoto [*]

--- Considering it featured Taniguchi if was a fun match where the younger guys got to show themself from a positive side in a different kind of setting on a fairly crowded outdoors show. Hashimoto and Tsukamoto were the spirit of the match while Taniguchi got the fans vocal about what they were watching. It was funny how Taniguchi wanted Tsukamoto to jump from the crane where the lighting was. Lets just say Tsukamoto decided that jumping from the top rope was enough. But Ohashi ended up being the cradle king trapping Tsukamoto with a double-arm roll-up like a Tiger Suplex.

9:42 of 9:38 - Ohashi pinned Tsukamoto with a Tiger Suplex-style roll-up

 

 

2. Manami Toyota -vs- Hamuko Hoshi [* 1/4]

--- On one hand it was a sloppy, one-sided squash lasting WAY too long. On the other hand the lively outside atmosphere made it a fun experience and they played up the hopeless Hoshi being hopeless to the fullest making it the main ingredience of the match with the fans getting behind the shit who had no chance. So from that point of view it trully had a story to get behind and the times Toyota really wanted to hurt the Ice Ribbon girl, she did! And that's all we and the fans wanted to see.....

15:45 of 15:42 - Toyota pinned Hoshi with a Japanaese Ocean Cyclon Suplex Hold

 

 

3. Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa -vs- Abdullah Kobayashi & Ryuji Yamakawa [**]

--- Wild brawl with old things like pictures, vases and a giant kettle as weapons. Pure fans love. And of course old Yamakawa getting a serious trashing as always. Lovely little trashy match which ended with Yamakawa getting his head piledriven on a pile of chairs!

17:04 of 16:05 - Numazawa pinned Yamakawa after a piledriver on chairs

 

 

4. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshito Sasaki -vs- Yuji Okabayashi & Ryuichi Kawakami [* 1/2]

--- Sekimoto standard with a handfull Okabayashi bulldozer spots! Good fun, but the experience wasn't complete and ended without too much of a fight as Kawakami was easily taken care of and German'ed.

11:13 of 11:11 - Sekimoto pinned Kawakami with a German Suplex

 

 

5. Ryuji Ito & Takashi Sasaki & Abdullah Kobayashi -vs- Yuko Miyamoto & Shadow WX & Kankuro Hoshino - (Light Tubes Death Match) [* 1/2]

--- Light tube madness with Abby knowing just how to control the crowd! Seen it all before kind of thing, but they put enough effort into it to become a easy bloody match to follow until they'd beat Hoshino up enough for Abby to land the top rope elbow crushing light tubes.

14:49 of 14:47 - Kobayashi pinned Hoshino after a top rope light tubes elbow drop

 

 

COMMENTS: Actually a fun outdoors show even if the actual wrestling part didn't bring anything out of the ordinary. It was just a different environment style show and kind of refreshing from the usual Korakuen's and Shin-kiba's.

 

 

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BJPW on COMM - August 8, 2010, Osaka - (1 1/2 hrs)

 

 

August 8, 2010, Osaka Tsurumi Ryokuchi Hanahaku Memorial Park Exhibition Hall (732 fans)

 

1. Yuji Okabayashi & Yosuke Takii -vs- Kazuki Hashimoto & Takumi Tsukamoto [* 1/4]

--- Power boys Okabayashi & Osaka based Takii against the Big Japan little boys. Nothing too unusual, but the right team was in control and won. I'd like to see Takii get more chances to show himself and grow.

10:42 of 10:41 - Okabayashi made Tsukamoto submit to a Argentine backbreaker

 

 

2. Mens Teioh & Daikokubo Benkei -vs- Yuichi Taniguchi & Atsushi Ohashi [1/2*]

--- Not much to say. Plenty of Taniguchi and Benkei....and that's not good. And a little bit of Ohashi and Teioh which was where the limited quality layed.

9:13 of 9:09 - Teioh pinned Ohashi after the Miracle Ecstasy

 

 

3. Ryuji Yamakawa & The Winger -vs- Shadow WX & Mototsugu Shimizu - (Barbed Wire Board Death Match) [3/4*]

--- Plain orinary and boring with little that was even good as it featured a lot of weak indy worker Shimizu and old broken down Yamakawa who beat Shimizu with a refersed Tiger Driver.

14:05 of 14:03 - Yamakawa pinned Shimizu after a reversed Tiger Driver

 

 

4. Magnitude Kishiwada -vs- Ryuichi Kawakami [*]

--- Ordinary Kishiwada glamorized squash. Well, Kawakami did get in some suplexes and didn't look too helpless, but Kishiwada is way more establsihed and naturally took care of him without me getting very excited about the match.

10:54 of 10:53 - Kishiwada pinned Kawakami after a Last Ride powerbomb

 

 

5. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshito Sasaki & Takeshi Minaminno -vs- Takashi Sasaki & Yuko Miyamoto & Kankuro Hoshino - (Falls Count Anywhere Death Match) [* 1/2]

--- Probable a lot of fun for the live fans there as it was a very interactive match wrestling all over the crowd. Wouldn't say there was much good wrestling as they didn't want to take too many bumps in the gravel, but Miyamoto did do a moonsault off the Big Japan truck as the big highlight. The truck was also invovled in the finish as Sekimoto had Hoshino locked in a Argentinme backbreaker standing on top of it.

15:24 of 16:12 - Sekimoto made Hoshino submit to a Argentine backbreaker on top of a truck

 

 

6. Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa -vs- Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi - (Fire Death Match) [3/4*]

--- Nah, didn't work out. Looked embarrassing most of the time. Once the barbed wire was set on fire the wrestlers fled the ring because of the heat and smoke (except it wasn't smoking much) apart from Numazawa who tried to stay in there as long as possible. And they did very little with the fire. It was just a empty ring with fire around it. They did try to set the canvas on fire, but that blew out in seconds so they couldn't do much with that. Then they tried to set a chair on fire and the same thing happend. It just wasn't working out. Some hardcore fighting outside that including jumping from the truck which Numazawa drove to the ring, but nah..... Numazawa beats Abby by piledriving him on a chair layng on top of a ladder.

18:02 of 18:17 - Numazawa pinned Kobayashi after a piledriver on a chaired ladder

 

 

COMMENTS: Probable much more exciting for the fans there live with the fire and fighting all over the field as the wrestling wasn't all that impressive.

 

 

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BATTLARTS on COMM - August 8, 2010, Warabi City - (1 hr)

 

 

August 8, 2010, Warabi City Isami Wrestle Budokan (116 fans)

 

1. Bison Tagai -vs- Kenji Takeshima [1/4*]

--- Easy win for Tagai even if they tried to make this horrific Takeshime look capable. But he wasn't and we had such a moment where Tagai was just laying on the mat for about 5 seconds before Takeshime understod that he was supposed to lock in the sleeper again. Ugh....

6:21 of 6:20 - Tagai made Takeshima submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

2. Tiger Shark -vs- Yoshinori Narita [1/4*]

--- What happend here?! Narita got knocked legit silly?! Well less then 2 minutes in Shark nailed him with a kick out of nowhere and he was straight down to the mat. When he wasn't getting up Shark tried to break the count and lift him up, but when he wasn't really following the referee stopped the fight.

2:07 of 2:05 - Shark defeated Narita by TKO after a high headkick

 

 

3. Ryuji Walter -vs- Super Tiger II [*]

--- Long 20-min exhaustion battle where little was looking good at all. Looked like very lowrent shoot style. At least they didn't waste too much time on the ground and there was always some movement into another hold or attack, so at least they didn't totally phone it in. But sadly the quality wasn't much to brag about. A draw.

18:00 of 20:00 - Walter wrestled Tiger to a 20:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

4. Yuki Ishikawa -vs- Sanchu Tsubakichi [*]

--- They got the crowd into it at least even if they struggled with me. This was all about that annoying Tsubakichi trying to survived and fight off the Battlarts veteran Ishikawa getting knocked down again and again as Ishikawa was getting tired and chances opened for Tsubakichi. But there was really no question which direction this match was headed and soon enough Tsubakichi was having a difficult time getting to his feet and Ishikawa locked in the sleeper to choke him out.

10:22 of 10:21 - Ishikawa defeated Tsubakichi with a sleeper

 

 

5. Munenori Sawa & Keita Yano -vs- Kyosuke Sasaki & Yujiro Yamamoto [* 1/4]

--- Fun match I guess with a lot of bitch slapping. What made this one unique was that everybody started fighting everybody. The team mates wasn't getting along and we almost had a 4-way. Not exactly pure shoot style, is it? No, only the little prick things kept it alive until Sawa managed to get Yamamoto down and locked in the chaos for the win.

16:54 of 16:53 - Sawa made Yamamoto submit to a grounded Octopus Hold

 

 

COMMENTS: Battlarts are getting more and more irrelevant....

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

DDT on Samurai TV - August 8, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

August 8, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (590 fans)

 

1. Sanshiro Takagi & Mammoth Handa -vs- MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba

--- Loser Handa by his side and Takagi still won! Was great to see Toba land a top rope footstomp on Mammoth! Probable one of the hardest blows he's ever taken!

2:41 of 6:15 - Takagi pinned MIKAMI with a Gedo Clutch

 

 

2. Daisuke Sasaki -vs- Shigehiro Irie - (KO-D Title #1 Contendership Tournament - Semi-Final)

--- Oh my God! Irie almost broke his own neck when executing a Samoan Drop. Now that is impact! Kind of fitting that he ended up losing to a modified version the reversed DDT which nails that exact area.

2:44 of 6:08 - Sasaki pinned Irie after a modified reversed DDT

 

 

3. Keisuke Ishii -vs- Yukihiro Abe - (KO-D Title Tournament #1 Contendership - Semi-Final)

--- Just the end of the other semi final and with Ishii winning with a spinning kick.

1:29 of 6:42 - Ishii pinned Abe after a kneel kick

 

 

4. Toru Owashi -vs- Danshkoku Dino -vs- Muscle Sakai -vs- Rion Mizuki -vs- Hoshitango -vs- Tomomitsu Matsunaga -vs- Takao Soma -vs- Kazuki Hirata - (8th Threat Match) [1/4*]

--- A LOT of people ending up in Dino's ass.....

6:28 of 11:37 - Owashi pinned Mizuki after a chokeslam

 

 

 

5. HARASHIMA & Dick Togo & Kenny Omega -vs- KUDO & Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda [3/4*]

--- Action from some of the guys who know how to deliver action in this strange promotion. Easy fun until the newly crowned KO-D Champion win it with the Somato.

5:36 of 19:52 - HARASHIMA pinned Honda after the Somato double-knee attack

 

 

6. Daisuke Sasaki -vs- Keisuke Ishii - (KO-D Title #1 Contendership Tournament - Final) [**]

--- And who'll face HARASHIMA in his 1st defence of the KO-D Title? Short answer. Daisuke Sasaki! Long answer: I think many would want Ishii to get that shot because Ishii was showing a lot of spirit in this one. And landed that kneel kick of his a couple of times along with other dangerous moves without taking Sasaki out. Instead Sasaki used his modified DDT's to get the shot instead. He also got a strong chant after the match so it's not a unpopular choice for a contender after giving such a good match.

9:29 of 14:08 - Sasaki pinned Ishii after a modified reversed DDT

 

 

- Highlights of the Beer Garden Tour 2010 (August 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 2010, Tokyo)

 

 

COMMENTS: The August 8th show was more establishing whats going to happen then being a happening, but the #1 contenders tournament final was good. The second hour was highlights from the annual Beer Garden shows from August 2 to 7th featuring such highlights as Sanshiro Takagi wrestling with Cherry as her 'aunt' wearing a Cherry like costume with a thong. Got a real close-up on that one. There was loads of silly stuff plus a couple of minutes of the August 7th KO-D Tag Title defence from Takagi & Sawa against Mammoth Handa and suprise partner Shiro Koshinaka! And the finish there was hillariously fucked-up in a nasty way! Get clips of it!

 

 

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[PUNQ]

AJPW on GAORA TV - August 8, 2010, Hakata - (2 hrs)

 

 

August 8, 2010, Hakata Star Lane (1,800 fans)

 

1. Kaz Hayashi & Taka Michinoku -vs- Shuji Kondo & Hikaru Sato [* 3/4]

--- Hayashi & Taka having a enjoyable match with Kondo & Sato. I'm liking Sato in All Japan! And these guys are not affraid to give and take a solid beating either and thats what they did going back and forth until it was time for Taka to bust out of the ganso MDII on Sato.

10:25 of 15:28 - Michinoku pinned Sato with a Michinoku Driver II

 

 

2. Mazada & Hate -vs- Super Crazy & BUSHI [* 1/4]

--- Mazada is wearing a mask just to taunt BUSHI while ripping his. And this was all about Mazada bullying BUSHI before beating him with a painful looking leg-hook DDT version. Didn't stop him from continuing pulling on that mask of BUSHI.....

6:33 of 10:44 - Mazada pinned BUSHI after the vertical drop Shoda Drop

 

 

3. Ryota Hama & Antonio Thomas -vs- TARU & Rene Dupree

--- The Voodoo Murders just has to create chaos and get themself DQ'ed. But the real story was more mask pulling betwen BUSHI and Mazada. The two face in a Mask vs Mask match on August 15th!

1:12 of 10:31 - Hama & Thomas defeated TARU & Dupree by DQ

 

 

4. Kohei Suwama & Masayuki Kono & Seiya Sanada -vs- Minoru Suzuki & Masakatsu Funaki & Taiyo Kea [**]

--- All Japan vs Tokyo Gurentai with the heels stomping and trying to rip the All Japan flag with Suwama like a pure babyface trying to save the flag like if it was a human being. And the stubborn fighting continues in the heavyweight division. Solid war, but in this one there was little standing out, but this did give Sanada a win over former Triple Crown Champion Kea with the Japanese leg roll clutch hold!

18:30 of 25:44 - Sanada pinned Kea with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold

 

 

- Jr. Heavyweight League Review...

 

 

5. KAI -vs- Hiroshi Yamato - (Junior League '10 - Semi-Final) [* 1/2]

--- These two had a real goo match on May 16th, but this one didn't have enough time and didn't deliver up to that level while it was alive. Too standard. But it did feature a leeping facekick from KAI which made Yamato bleed the hard way so the quick finish afterward can be justified as a half-fluke win because of that pin-point blow leaving Yamato with little fight left. Then it was time for the splash from KAI going to the final.

8:54 of 8:54 - KAI pinned Yamato after a top rope bodypress

 

 

6. Jimmy Yang -vs- Minoru - (Junior League '10 - Semi-Final) [** 1/4]

--- Minoru was carrying the show working over Yang's leg using chairs and being ruthless like when he pushed Yang hard off the top rope with Yang falling to the floor! Minoru was trying to rip the leg apart and lock in submissions. You could tell Yang was getting a weakening beating, and struggled to make an effective comeback. But then he got one! Yang Time Body Attack landing straight into a pinning predicament and beat Minoru to get to the final and meet KAI!

11:24 of 10:57 - Yang pinned Minoru with the Yang Time Body Attack

 

 

7. Jimmy Yang -vs- KAI - (Junior League '10 - Final) [**]

--- And Yang is in a lot of trouble again as KAI takes control over the final keeping the US based asian down and even landing the top rope splash which has been very effective for him in this tournament so far. But not this time! Yang kicked out. KAI continued to try and beat Yang, but then came a move which has been even more effective in the tournament. You guessed it! The Yang Time Body Attack! And Jimmy Yang win the 2010 Junior Heavyweight Singles League! That means he'll face Kaz Hayashi for the AJPW Junior Heavyweight Title on August 28!

13:06 of 13:06 - Yang pinned KAI with the Yang Time Body Attack to win the Junior League 2010.

 

 

COMMENTS: The Junior League Finals was fun and the BUSHI vs Mazada feud is getting more cool then one could think they'd be able to create.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NJPW on TV ASAHI - August 8, 2010, Tokyo - (2 1/2 hrs)

 

 

August 8, 2010, Tokyo - Aichi Prefectural Gym (8,500 fans)

 

1. Yujiro Takahashi & Takashi Iizuka -vs- Yuji Nagata & Tajiri [*]

--- Iizuka came out and ripped the shirt off the TV announcer! That was a evil thing to do! The match was mainly just there with the heels cheating and once the babyfaces returned the favour the referee caught them and awarded the match to the heels since Tajiri blew green mist. Then came the highlight. Nagata spraying Yujiro's face with BLUE MIST!!!!

8:08 of 8:06 - Takahashi & Iizuka defeated Nagata & Tajiri by DQ

 

 

2. Manabu Nakanishi -vs- Karl Anderson - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [* 1/2]

--- Anderson's dive out of the ring was the highlight, but otherwise no one belived he had a chance against the former Olympic wrestler. And they were right. A easy win for Nakanishi using German's.

7:31 of 7:29 - Nakanishi pinned Anderson with a German Suplex

 

 

3. Toru Yano -vs- Strong Man - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [* 1/4]

--- Yano was just way too smart for Strong Man low blowing him, pushing him into a chair in the corner and then rolling the big guy up for the win. Strong Man did get most of the impact offence, but he's not someone who's winning matches in New Japan. But had this been the 80's......

5:17 of 5:16 - Yano pinned Strong Man with a schoolboy

 

 

4. Hirooki Goto -vs- Wataru Inoue - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- Inoue continue to try and look credible and for the most part fails. His submissions are the most dangerous and his Octopus Hold seems to be the most pushed move he does these days without that hightening any excitement regardless of the annoncer trying his best to make it significent. A move that gets pushed more is Goto's new special leg lock cradle. He beat Nakamura with it and now Inoue!

10:15 of 10:15 - Goro pinned Inoue with a foot-arrangement cradle

 

 

5. Satoshi Kojima -vs- Go Shiozaki - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [** 1/4]

--- Almost AJPW vs NOAH at a NJPW show. Well Kojima is no more a All Japan'er, but this is a elite match between two lariat specialists. Thight even battle, but a little slow for the climax end. Go managed to hit his Kobashi style lariat without managing to pin Kojima. Instead Kojima landed his Hansen style lariat and you know thats the end these days! Go falls dead to the returned New Japan trained star.

15:13 of 15:13 - Kojima pinned Shiozaki after a lariat

 

 

6. Shinsuke Nakamura -vs- Giant Bernard - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [**]

--- Bernard got the better of Nakamura in this one with his impact moves landing the sit-out bomb and doing good damage to the arm too on some of the moves. Nakamura was looking in trouble, but managed to slip out of the Bernard Bomb and once that was done it was time for the Boma Ye's to save his ass. One to the back to equalize the damage done and after some more fighting landing the Boma Ye for the kill.

10:40 of 10:39 - Nakamura pinned Bernard after a Boma Ye kneekick

 

 

7. Hiroshi Tanahashi -vs- Tetsuya Naito - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [** 3/4]

--- Real dull, unengaging and unhappening first 20 plus minutes. THEN it EXPLODED the final 7 minutes or so with hot moves and super close near falls! So a typical low fantasy way of saving a 30-min draw by doing little with low impact most of the match and then wait for the real match the final minutes to get the fans in n frenzy. But those minutes was hot watching them kick out of a bunch of moves at the last possible moment. Too many of them to mention. They also tried submissions like the Clover hold and modified scorpion ankle hold, but it was the suplexes and moves like that the fans loved and popped big for, but with that slow start people kind of knew it was going to be a draw.

30:28 of 30:00 - Tanahashi wrestled Naito to a 30:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

8. Togi Makabe -vs- Prince Devitt - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [** 1/2]

--- The IWGP Heavyweight Champion against the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and after two days the situation is kind of reversed of what it should be as the junior heavyweight champ has two victories while the heavyweight champ has none! And Devitt was good here too landing dives off the balcony and surprising the heavyweight champ whenever he had the chance. And he got many chances and only Makabe's lariats saved him from grace getting breathers from Devitt's speedy attacks. But once Makabe started getting in the suplexes and bombs he was in control and the road to his first win of the tournament easy as by that point Devitt was more occupied with kicking out until Makabe PLANTED a top rope kneedrop hard down for the pin.

13:37 of 13:36 - Makabe pinned Devitt after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

COMMENTS: Solid good matches again. Some flaws and some greatness. But you get a sense that the matches mean something.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

BJPW on COMM - August 9, 2010, Nagoya - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

August 9, 2010, Nagoya Club Diamond Hall (359 fans)

 

1. Yuichi Taniguchi & Mototsugu Shimizu -vs- Daikokubo Benkei & Takumi Tsukamoto [1/2*]

--- Nothing to get excited about....so I didn't.

12:47 of 12:46 - Taniguchi pinned Tsukamoto with a schoolboy

 

 

2. Daisuke Sekimoto -vs- Kazuki Hashimoto [1/2*]

--- Very easy match and a very easy win for Sekimoto.

7:10 of 7:10 - Sekimoto pinned Hashimoto with a German Suplex

 

 

3. Yoshito Sasaki & Atsushi Ohashi -vs- Yuji Okabayashi & Ryuichi Kawakami [*]

--- Decent action. Simple as that. Wasn't anything more then a match with a few cradles trades until Ohashi managed to beat Kawakami with his Tiger Suplex-style roll-up.

13:30 of 13:26 - Ohashi pinned Kawakami with a Tiger Suplex-style roll-up

 

 

4. Shuji Ishikawa & Takeshi Minaminno -vs- Ryuji Ito & Kankuro Hoshino - (Light Tubes & Free Weapons Death Match) [* 1/2]

--- Fairly standard garbage match with some brutal light tube and ladder spots. The ones sticking out was Ishikawa breaking a pinfall with the ring-steps nailing Ito in the head with it, and light tube splash and the end where Ishikawa landed a Splash Mountain on top of a ladder and chair for a nice ending.

17:40 of 17:40 - Ishikawa pinned Hoshino with a Splash Mountain on chair & ladder

 

 

5. Shadow WX & The Winger -vs- Abdullah Kobayashi & Ryuji Yamakawa - (Barbed Wire Board Death Match) [*]

--- Abby is the only reason why this Yamakawa match had anything to offer. Lightly worked and tired old stuff. And Abby's personality was almost the only thing shining through. At least the washed up Yamakawa gets beat when Winger kept landing barbed wire board sentons off the top.

18:04 of 18:00 - Winger pinned Yamakawa after a top rope senton with a barbed wire board on top

 

 

6. Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa © -vs- Takashi Sasaki & Yuko Miyamoto - (BJPW Tag Title; Moonlight Darkness Death Match) [* 3/4]

--- Lights-out match for the BJPW Tag Titles! These kinds of matches are very gimmicky and kind of just there for Miyamoto & Co crushing the lighting light tubes on their big spots. So in reality it only needed to be 5 minutes or so long, but they draged it out quite long and added some wrestling in the dark to streach it out. Just to tell about the big spots. They were Miyamoto moonsaulting with the light tubes, Sasaki kicking head with the shining light tube and a wonderful finish where Numazawa did a Gotch-style piledriver top put the final light out and end the match!

18:04 of 18:27 - Numazawa pinned Miyamoto with a Gotch-style piledriver on a shining light tube. Kasai & Numazawa retain the BJPW Tag Title in their 1st defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: Show wasn't too exciting. Very ordinary stuff with a special darkness gimmick match for the BJPW Tag Belts.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NJPW on Samurai TV - August 10, 2010, Yokohama - (2 3/4 hrs)

 

 

August 10, 2010, Yokohama Bunka Gym (4,900 fans)

 

1. Tetsuya Naito -vs- Karl Anderson - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [** 1/4]

--- A good way to start the 4th day of the G-1 Climax with Anderson having Naito in trouble landing a top rope jumping Gun Stun, a big Ligerbomb and more stuff to nearly have the No Limit wrestler beat. But only nearly. Naito proved in his match against Tanahashi that he can take and kick out of a good portion of devestating moves and survivied what Anderson had to come with and once the Stardust Press landed Naito had 5 points so far in the tournament and things are looking good for the guy!

11:52 of 11:52 - Naito pinned Anderson after the Stardust Press

 

 

2. Satoshi Kojima -vs- Wataru Inoue - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [* 3/4]

--- Inoue put up and fight and with Kojima's bad elbow gave the loser a break giving the former IWGP & Triple Crown Champion some trouble. But not too much. It's Inoue we're talking about. And all Kojima has to do is hit you with that one lariat and then it's over. And that's what happend.

13:57 of 13:56 - Kojima pinned Inoue after a lariat

 

 

 

3. Giant Bernard -vs- Hirooki Goto - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [* 1/2]

--- Two guys thats done well in the tournament so far and after this one Bernard is doing even better beating Goto with the Fire Thunder piledriver! The match wasn't much to brag about. Just your standard stuff.

11:25 of 11:25 - Bernard pinned Goto after the Bernard Driver

 

 

4. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi -vs- Toru Yano & Gedo [* 1/4]

--- Filler tag as the IWGP Junior Tag Champs beat heels Yano & Gedo in a decent nothing of importance match.....

8:45 of 8:45 - Taguchi pinned Gedo after the Dodon

 

 

5. Shinsuke Nakamura -vs- Yujiro Takahashi - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [* 3/4]

--- Yujiro got to look fairly strong against Nakamura including landing a fine top rope legdrop among other things to give it to Nakamura. But is it something that Nakamura can it's giving it to people, so he gave a little extra back! And those knees are leathal.....

11:48 of 11:47 - Nakamura pinned Takahashi after a Boma Ye kneekick

 

 

 

6. Togi Makabe -vs- Strong Man - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [*]

--- Makabe is finally on track now beating the roided up guy like everyone else has in this tournament so far too.....

5:58 of 5:57 - Makabe pinned Strong Man after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

 

7. Yuji Nagata -vs- Go Shiozaki - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block B ) [** 1/2]

--- NOAH's Shiozaki had his work cut out for him here facing such a established top tire worker as Nagata! And he did lay in the stiffness to match Nagata at that game. Plenty of hard chops and blows. And both stepped up to give a good fight for the fans there. Nagata also locked in those Nagata Locks to give the match some submissions moments too because in the end Shiozaki was just too weak against a veteran like Nagata who murdered the NOAH star with backdrop suplexes for the pin.

16:26 of 16:25 - Nagata pinned Shiozaki with a backdrop suplex hold

 

 

 

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi -vs- Manabu Nakanishi - (G-1 Climax '10 - Block A) [** 1/4]

--- Strong wrestling, but it didn't touch their 2009 IWGP Title matches. Nakanishi was as stubborn as ever. Even on the finish! He was kicking out of big moves before there was even counts and also tried to kick out of the High Fly Flow Tanahashi landed to win the match. Quite a few nice looking heavyweight moves with Tanahashi suplexing the gorilla and Nakanishi being a brick wall to handle. At least Tanahashi got his points.

15:01 of 15:01 - Tanahashi pinned Nakanishi after a top rope bodypress

 

 

COMMENTS: AGAIN....solid show without the super high moments. Nagata vs Shiozaki was Match of the Night, but I liked the Naito vs Anderson and Tanahashi vs Nakanishi matches almost just as much.

 

 

--PUNQ--