Guide to Japanese Wrestling 2010

[PUNQ]

NOAH on Samurai TV - February 18, 2010, Osaka - (2 hrs)

 

 

February 18, 2010, Osaka Prefectural Gym #2 (1,700 fans)

 

1. Akira Taue & Takashi Okita -vs- Kentaro Shiga & Masashi Aoyagi [3/4*]

--- Simple opener with Taue using a small package on Shiga to give us a smile.

5:43 of 5:43 - Taue pinned Shiga with a small package

 

 

2. Naomichi Marufuji -vs- Bobby Fish [* 1/4]

--- Bad start with Fish even slipping on a simple apron jump. Got a little better toward the end with Fish doing a Muto moonsault and the Fish Hook for near falls until Marufuji wanted it over with the Shiranui.

9:23 of 9:24 - Marufuji pinned Fish after a Shiranui

 

 

3. Kensuke Sasaki & Yoshinari Ogawa -vs- Akitoshi Saito & Eddie Edwards [*]

--- Never really captured my attention much. Not badly executed or anything. But it was just a very random filler tag in which Sasaki had to be the one to squash Edwards.

10:52 of 10:53 - Sasaki pinned Edwards after a Northern Light Bomb

 

 

4. Jun Akiyama & Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano -vs- Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone & Bull Buchanan [1/4*]

--- Ha ha ha..... They had the Global Tag League '10 winners, the GHC Tag Champions, superstar Akiyama and former WWE superstar Buchanan and.....1 minute!

1:08 of 1:06 - Akiyama pinned Buchanan after a running knee

 

 

5. Takeshi Morishima -vs- Katsuhiko Nakajima [* 1/4]

--- House show version of what should be much more special match-up then this. Nakajima could kick a little, but was then bulldozed down with a stiff lariat and big backdrop suplex. Not even close to as good it could have been or even an attempt at making it memorable. Still it's Nakajima and Morishima so some qualities is there.

7:36 of 7:38 - Morishima pinned Nakajima after a backdrop suplex

 

 

6. Toshiaki Kawada -vs- Masao Inoue [1/2*]

--- Kawada back in NOAH! And squashes Inoue in less then 2 minutes! What's going on on this show?!

1:58 of 1:57 - Kawada defeated Inoue by Referee Stop with the Streach Plum

 

 

7. Ricky Marvin & Taiji Ishimori -vs- Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi - (GHC Junior Tag Title Tournament - Final) [** 1/4]

--- Finally a match that was good and not a squash! And they delivered motivated standard, I guess you can call it. There wasn't anything super special about it. But they gave the fans the spectacular action diving threw, over and off the ropes for their attacks doing all their trademark spots. And it was clear that Marvin & Ishimori was there to look good as all the best parts came from them so I'm glad they managed to make ttheir new GHC Junior Tag Champs look like stars for this decision match. The end came with a Santa Maria and a Firebird.

13:47 of 13:48 - Ishimori pinned Kanemaru after a Firebird Splash

 

 

8. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma -vs- Takashi Sugiura & Atsushi Aoki [** 1/2]

--- More of the NJPW vs NOAH stuff with Makabe & Honma being the ones causing chaos for Aoki and the GHC Champion Sugiura. This leads up to Makabe getting a shot at the title on February 28th and Aoki and partner in crime Honma bloody his partner up to give the champ a message! Aoki was bleeding quite bad and the New Japan guys loved to bully him. Aoki did get one hope locking Honma in the chickenwing and cross-armbreaker, but Honma refused to submit and Makabe came in to put in the finishing touches landing hard with the King Kong Kneedrop to beat the junior heavyweight.

15:31 of 15:31 - Makabe pinned Aoki after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

COMMENTS: This had a loaded card, but a lot of surprising results as for as time was conserned. Rarely does NOAH matches last so short. At least they tried to give some wrestling in the last two bouts.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

FREEDOMS/SECRET BASE on COMM - February 20, 2010, Nagoya - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

February 20, 2010, Nagoya Sports Center (215 fans)

 

1. Spark Aoki & Takaya Shibayama -vs- Toru Suguira & Michio Kageyama [3/4*]

--- Mostly unknowns. Kind of indy Young Lions. Serious looking wrestlers, but of course lacking the complete training and belivability a real pro should have. Too much of the basic fighting was weak, mostly Aoki's fault. I liked Kageyama ok, but in the end he was the one to lose to that damn Aoki.

14:19 of 14:19 - Aoki made Kageyama submit to a modified STF

 

 

2. Chango -vs- Mammoth Handa -vs- Konaka Pale One -vs- Ultraman Robin - (4-Way) [1/4*]

--- This was like watching grown up play around like they were still in kindergarden. They had balls, trampolines and what-not to play with and it was all very embarrassing to watch....

9:33 of 9:32 - Chango pinned Handa after a top rope legdrop

 

 

3. Yasu Kubota & Xevious -vs- Masaki Okimoto & Skayde Jr [1/2*]

--- Low class indy lucharesu. Some dives and stuff, but very little of it looked good or was captivating. One non-injured Kubota brother wins the match with the best executed move of the match over the tiny Skayde.

7:10 of 7:09 - Kubota pinned Skayde after a moonsault

 

 

4. GENTARO & The Winger & Kamui -vs- Shigehiro Irie & Go Sato & Shima Zion [* 1/4]

--- Not too captivating, but it had action. Maybe not of the greatest kind, but a few highlight here and there. Sadly little personality was shining through in this bout, so it was difficult to care. This Shima Zion dude was trying to be a unorthodox highflyer and came with a couple of fancy moves along the way, but apart from that very little. GENTARO and Irie came with a ok ending minute before GENTARO planted the elbow off the top for the pin.

15:29 of 15:20 - GENTARO pinned Irie after a top rope elbow drop

 

 

5. Takuya Sugawara & Kinya Oyanagi -vs- Bear Fukuda & Jun Ogawauchi [*]

--- At times dreadfully dull, but I guess you can say the actual execution of what they did was acceptable. It still didn't become a interesting match from these Toryumon trained wrestlers. Not enough life to it. Jun did a ok figure before being put away by Sugawara.

15:01 of 15:01 - Sugawara pinned Ogawauchi after the Shiisanputa

 

 

6. Jun Kasai & Takashi Sasaki -vs- Yamada Man Pound & Mototsugu Shimizu - (Dangerous Weapons Death Match) [*]

--- Freedoms kings against Secret Base's losers in a hardcore match. This was never going to be good and it was Kasai's facial expressions that really saved the match from shame. To try and make this one special they even pulled out a bag of kenzans to make this the worst match to feature those spikey things which made Sasaki a star years ago. Nah, wasting time with the Secret Base guys is not something these wrestlers should do. And to let Yamada kick out of a reverse Tiger Driver on kenzans was just ridiculous. At least he didn't kick out of the Pearl Harbor Splash.

19:09 of 19:07 - Kasai pinned Yamada after a top rope bodypress

 

 

COMMENTS: Freedoms mix with Secret Base and various low-rent indy guys for a disappointing show.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Ice Ribbon on COMM - February 20, 2010, Osaka - (1 1/2 hrs)

 

 

February 20, 2010, Osaka

 

 

- All Ice Ribbon shows are now starting with 3-min exhibition matches with two young girls. This time the kids wrestled Chii Tomiya and Emi Sakura.

 

 

1. Hikari Minami & Hikaru Shida -vs- Mai Ichii & Chii Tomiya [1/2*]

--- Ice Ribbon girls by themselfs having a quite standard joshi match. Some energy. Some decent moves. Some not so decent moves. And Minami winning with Cuty Suzuki Special.

8:44 of 8:49 - Minami pinned Tomiya wuth a Capture Suples Hold

 

 

2. Daisuke Harada & Natsuki*Taiyo -vs- Atsushi Kotoge & Emi Sakura [*]

--- The girls playing with the Osaka boys mixing for a somewhat silly performance but also filled with enough more regular wrestling to entertain the crowd. Nothing important happening except Sakura giving Natsuki the win.

9:59 of 10:06 - Natsuki pinned Sakura with a La Magistral

 

 

3. Miyako Matsumoto -vs- Kuishinbo Kamen [1/4*]

--- The ballerina against the clown.....comedy.

7:05 of 7:15 - Matsumoto pinned Kuishinbo with a Gedo Clutch

 

 

4. Tsukasa Fujimoto © -vs- Makoto - (ICEx60 Title) [* 1/4]

--- Again a solid defence from Fujimoto and this time it was against Makoto as they wrestled in a serious style locking in quite a few submissions along the way. But Fujimoto's speciality is that swinging deja vu style cradle of hers and that's how she beat one of Ice Ribbon's main girls.

14:34 of 15:00 - Fujimoto pinned Makoto with a swinging front cradle to retain the ICEx60 Title in her 2nd defence.

 

 

5. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Hamuko Hoshi © -vs- Nanae Takahashi & Kazumi Shimouma - (Ice Ribbon International Tag Title) [* 1/2]

--- A super sprint of a ridiculous amount of pinfall attempts and just mindblowing how many saves they do. They really should establish some rules and stop over-doing that kind of stuff because this ended up being just stupid as they went through their climax part. My favourite part was when Nanae ran and jumped herself on Matsumoto's back to press her down knees onto Hoshi! But with all the fan craze moments they had in this they managed to mess up the actaul finishing moment on a simple top rope elbow drop which Shimouma missed most of her target and otherwise loud crowd went all quiet as we got new Ice Ribbon International Tag champs.....

17:24 of 17:32 - Shimouma pinned Hoshi after a top rope elbow drop. Takahashi & Shimouma become the Ice Ribbon International Tag Champions.

 

 

COMMENTS: They run around, but like with all joshi these days it's all very unstructured in a way that you struggle to get into the action because very little matters. It's all screaming and doing 1000 near falls. But with that said. Ice Ribbon has grown this last year.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Ice Ribbon on COMM - February 21, 2010, Nagoya - (1 1/4 hrs)

 

 

February 21, 2010, Nagoya

 

 

- This time the young girls got 3-min exhibition matches with Emi Sakura and Mai Ichii.

 

 

1. Chii Tomiya -vs- Hamuko Hoshi [1/2*]

--- The usual joshi formula. Loud and basic. And with a upset as Tomiya unexpected won over Hoshi who's not had a good run lately losing all her title matches and now this.

8:33 of 8:35 - Tomiya pinned Hoshi with a reversed cradle

 

 

2. Kazumi Shimouma -vs- Mai Ichii [1/2*]

--- Arrrgh.....the screaming! Shimouma wins and the fans seemed to enjoy it.

6:02 of 6:06 - Shimouma pinned Ichii after a second rope powerslam

 

 

3. Mr.6 & Mr.8 -vs- Natsuki*Taiyo & Miyako Matsumoto [3/4*]

--- Mr.6 a kid boy and adult man Mr.8 fighting tha ladies! And it was all about the comedy with this kid being so small compared to everyone that even Natsuki looked like a massive giant! It was all kinds of cute to watch him be all serious and all not so serious doing some Muto. The biggest moment was when he did a quebrada! He then went on to beat the pretty girl 3 times his age.

8:00 of 8:52 - Mr.6 pinned Matsumoto with a necklock cradle

 

 

4. Tsukasa Fujimoto © -vs- Hikari Minami - (ICEx60 Title) [3/4*]

--- Now, back to normal. This is the standard we know Ice Ribbon for. A small show atmosphere and not the climax wrestling we've been getting from them other places. And this title match had all-Ice Ribbon wrestlers with no one to carry them above the lower acceptable standard. A couple of nice boots, but otherwise very ordinary in execution. Fujimoto however retains once more.

9:46 of 10:03 - Fujimoto pinned Minami after a climbing headkick to retain the ICEx60 Title in her 3rd defence.

 

 

5. Nanae Takahashi & Emi Sakura -vs- Makoto & Hikari Shida [* 1/2]

--- Turn down the volume. This match is VERY audiable! Sometimes I wish more people could be as quiet at Makoto. After you've done that, then sit back and watch a non-stop action match with tons of near falls. And then wait for Sakura to land the Firebird Splash. That's when it's over. It had it's qualities, but at the same time they do try to hard without doing anything of importance.

19:07 of 19:01 - Samura pinned Makoto after a Firebird Splash

 

 

COMMENTS: Not as interesting as Ice Ribbon shows have been. It's a smaller show and not really anything special.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

OZ ACADEMY on GAORA TV - February 7 & 21, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

February 21, 2010, Tokyo - Shinjuku FACE

 

1. Akino & Tomoka Nakagawa -vs- Sonoko Kato & Nao Komatsu [* 1/4]

--- This was designed to give Komatsu the ring experience. A long struggle with Komatsu looking the strongest she has since debuting in December, but with her experince level she still manages to look weak and kind of akward. I'm still not sure about her abilities. She did eventually submit to Akino's submissions after living though a lot and getting a few chances to shine. Didn't win me over.

12:04 of 18:33 - Akino made Komatsu submit to the Nagata Lock III

 

 

2. Chikayo Nagashima & Ayumi Kurihara -vs- Ran Yu Yu & Hiroyo Matsumoto [**]

--- I got fairly pleased with this one. Sure, it's nearly the same formula they always pull, but I felt the timing was done a little bit less rushed and that worked better then their overly rushed way of going through the finishers and near falls. All got their piece of the action, but it was Nagashima who came out the smartest as she countered Yu Yu's dreaded Fire Thunder with a cradle to escape death and win.

13:40 of 18:48 - Nagashima pinned Yu Yu with a forward rolling cradle

 

 

February 7, 2010, Osaka Azalea Taisho

 

3. Dynamite Kansai & Ayumi Kurihara -vs- Hiroyo Matsumoto & Tomoka Nakagawa [*]

--- Decent action, but hardly anything revolutionary or important. A match for Kansai to look dominating. Like she's never done that before....

6:59 of 14:12 - Kansai pinned Nakagawa after a lariat

 

 

4. Manami Toyota -vs- Carlos Amano - (5-Match Single Series #2) [* 3/4]

--- The second match of their singles match series. And you know already what you're getting from the pair. I'm glad they cut out any silly spots as this was more straight to the point fighting compared to their other matches in recent months. Cool moments like Amano powerbombing Toyota and that reversed Frankensteiner which in some way ended up a cradle for Toyota. But Toyota didn't stop with that cradle as she countered Amano's leeping headbutt into a inside cradle to make it 2-0 in this series.

6:00 of 8:50 - Toyota pinned Amano with a small package

 

 

February 21, 2010, Tokyo - Shinjuku FACE

 

5. Manami Toyota -vs- Carlos Amano - (5-Match Single Series #3) [**]

--- Here they did more silly stuff. And it worked. Watching Toyota run alongside Amano just to piss her off and then the best thing at all. Toyota trying to wrestle like Amano doing the headbutt only to passout herself as Amano was clearly fine and could try a cover. There was a good share of their regular finishers landing with Toyota landing a fine slow German and also the Japanese Ocean Cyclon Suplex Hold which Amano kicked out of. Amano tried to get a pin in time, but time ran out and it ended a draw. That means 2 wins for Toyota, one draw and no wins for Amano. Best she can hope for now is a draw, but then she has to win the next two fights with Toyota.

12:31 of 15:00 - Toyota wrestled Amano to a 15:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

6. Mayumi Ozaki & Takako Inoue -vs- Dynamite Kansai & Yumi Ohka [* 1/2]

--- Chaos heaven! Ozaki had all her friends get involved from Police, Nishio and Hiren. They even tied Ohka up with a chain sitting on a chair mid-ring! Kansai had to fight all these people in a handicap situation and almost had control. Ohka did get a good push toward the end and nearly winning on a few moves, but she was the natural weak link in this one with all the veterans and surely Ozaki & Co put an end to to her....

12:41 of 13:03 - Ozaki pinned Ohka after Shinign headkick

 

 

7. Kaoru -vs- Aja Kong [* 3/4]

--- Ugly match. Aja was bleeding heavily and Kaoru were laying in the brutality of chairshots. Dropping Aja badly on MDII's and coming with the moonsaults. Ruthless as hell without much soul. Aja got in a couple of desperation urakens, but Kaoru still stole the win with a basic cradle after nearly squashing the monster with killer moves the entire match. They still reluctantly shock hands after the match.

10:46 of 11:41 - Kaoru pinned Kong with a small package

 

 

COMMENTS: A fairly good Oz offering. The Toyots vs Amano series is fun and you get the brutality and solid wrestling in different matches here.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

MOBIUS on COMM - February 22, 2010, Tokyo - (1 1/2 hrs)

 

 

February 22, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING

 

1. Super Tiger II & Gran Hamada -vs- Tiger Shark & Black Shadow

--- Clipped action. Highlight for me was Sharks top rope diving headbutt, but in the end the heels got too violent with the referee and that was the end of it....

2:41 - Tiger & Hamada defeated Shark & Shadow by DQ

 

 

2. NOSAWA Rongai -vs- Dokuromanzu 3 - (El Mejor de Mascarade - Semi-Final) [1/2*]

--- NOSAWA more or less wrestling 3 guys with shitty masks who kept trading places with each other..... not very interesting. NOSAWA wins and looks tons better then any of these guys.

6:33 - NOSAWA pinned Dokuromanzu witj a crucifix roll-up

 

 

3. Great Sasuke -vs- Shinobu - (El Mejor de Mascarade - Semi-Final) [1/2*]

--- The masked Shinobu tried, but Sasuke wasn't able to follow much and at one point was unable to throw Shinobu off look really bad. And the end soon followed as flat as it gets.

4:42 - Sasuke pinned Shinobu after the Ram Jam

 

 

4. Minoru Fujita & Mazada -vs- Gekko(Michael Nakazawa) & Masahiro Takanashi (masked) [3/4*]

--- Hmmmmm..... ordinary stuff really. As you can guess with these kind of workers. They don't bring anything special. Just a match with Fujita beating a masked Takanashi under a name I didn't catch.

10:44 - Fujita pinned Takanashi after a modified Northern Light Bomb

 

 

6. Great Sasuke -vs- NOSAWA Rongai - (El Mejor de Mascarade - Final) [3/4*]

--- Boring. Sasuke was on his way to winning when NOSAWA's crew came in and saved him. El Samurai came to the rescue and then it was over with a La Magistral.

9:27 - Sasuke pinned NOSAWA with a La Magistral to win the El Mejor de Mascarade.

 

 

7. Masao Orihara & Dick Togo & Tomohiko Hashimoto -vs- Kintaro Kanemura & Tatsutoshi Goto & Bad Boy Hido [*]

--- Talk about an outlaws match putting together some of the biggest sleezbags involved in pro-wrestling. Hashimoto and his Makehen crew has recently been indicated in criminal activities, Kanemura we all know liks to harass women and got blacklisted for that. Hido....well, he's a scumbag. Goto always looks like a yakuza underlord and Orihara and Dick are probable heavily involved in different badboy activities too. How can they not be? Just look at them! Most of the match was washed-up wrestling with Orihara getting beat up a lot and Hashimoto turning on him. To the save came Shinobu and with everyone landing finishers on Hido, Orihara could win the match on his own show.

13:14 - Orihara pinned Hido after a moonsault

 

 

COMMENTS: This was a boring show. Nobody was bringing anything.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

IGF on Samurai TV - February 22, 2010, Tokyo - (3 hrs)

 

 

February 22, 2010, Tokyo - JCB Hall (2,780 fans)

 

1. Munenori Sawa -vs- Akira Jo [*]

--- Sawa with a black eye after the DDT match a couple of weeks earlier got a bloody nose too in this fight as Jo worked kind of stiff with his chops. Otherwise Sawa seemed to have this under control and once the submissions started getting locked in Sawa had Jo beat.

6:00 of 6:02 - Sawa made Jo submit to a achilles tendon hold

 

 

2. Taka Kunou -vs- Hikaru Sato [* 1/2]

--- Ground fight. Submission battle. Can't say I've got much passion for either guy, but at least they made it clear what they were doing and they knew how to put on a hold and put the focus on that. Some striking too, but it was the submission work that was the important aspect and there Kunou was better and eventually made Sato tap.

13:51 of 13:52 - Kunou made Sato submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

3. Ultimo Dragon -vs- TJ Perkins [**]

--- Ok, I saw TJ in an opening card match on the Dragon Gate USA show from January and he looked ok there without making too big an impression and now he works in Japan for Inoki up against Ultimo Dragon?! Kind of strange and random, but the young wrestler does have ability. And with Dragon carrying the match his way and TJP following eagerly up we had a good little match. And Dragon looks in good shape these days. Wish he'd have more high profile matches and not just tribute matches with some of his many students. Because here he looked like a real ring general. Gets the win of course, but that's not very unexpected.

12:39 of 12:39 - Dragon pinned TJ after a Asai DDT

 

 

4. Eric Hammer -vs- Daniel Puder [*]

--- Daniel Puder in IGF! And he's facing big Eric Hammer! Puder's got a little belly coming along, so not in his best shape. He's still got potential if a pro-wrestling company like New Japan would shape him because he's got a credible look to him, but he needs to be groomed. For now he's being fed to Hammer here in IGF. Puder was close to winning with a sleeper, but Hammer then locked in the legs bending them for a machine gun tap from Puder.

7:09 of 7:09 - Hammer made Puder submit to a leglock

 

 

 

5. Ikuhisa Minowa -vs- Necro Butcher [** 1/2]

--- Minowa agasinst freakin' Necro Butcher?! What the hell were they thinking booking this. Who cares! Let them continue that heavy smoking! This was all kinds of awesome! I was laughing and amazed at the same time watching this very unique match-up. Butcher was all over Minowa with is street fighting and Minawa a lot of the time didn't know how to handle the 'Death Match Jesus'. After crashing into the metal Nerco was bleeding heavily! Even more so when Minowa put on the pressure with a front neck lock. The bloody was pouring all over Minowa too. A mess. And then they almost did a Frye/Takayama spot with Necro going for closed knuckle punches at poor Minowa. However Minowa managed to get the better of Necro once his stamina ran out and then locked in a heel hold while almost sitting on top of him!

9:55 of 9:56 - Minowa made Necro submit to a modified heel hold

 

 

- Antonio Inoki fuckin' sings the jazz!

 

 

 

6. Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido -vs- Tiger Mask I & Yoshiaki Fujiwara [**]

--- What is this? New Japan almost 30 years ago?! Old folks wrestling and it's like they haven't lost a step even if they're decades passed their prime. They did all their old trademark spots from the Fujiwara headbutts to the Dragonscrews. The original Tiger Mask even did the Tiger swing on the ropes even if it almost looked like the ropes would break on that one. Pure stubborn old school wrestling with a little bit of clowning in a match that just flew by.

15:00 of 15:00 - Fujinami & Kido wrestled Tiger Mask & Fujiwara to a 15:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

7. Yoshihiro Takayama -vs- The Predator [* 1/4]

--- Bruiser Brody '10 and man did he boot Takayama down on that first clash! The rest of the fight wasn't that good, but Predator got to be the better or the two most of the way and even landed a Hercules Cutter. Luckily for Takayama he moved out of the way of the King Kong Kneedrop and could come back using his big arsenal of backdrop suplex, kneelifts and the Everest German Suplex to win!

9:53 of 9:54 - Takayama pinned Predator with a German Suplex

 

 

 

8. Josh Barnett -vs- Bob Sapp [*]

--- The Beast against Barnett! A clumsy giant match, but it had it's entertainment value to see how much of a trainwreck this could be. Still with that view it was better then first feared with Barnett going for sleepers and cross-armbreakers and big Sapp for the gorilla fighting. Laughable wrestling really, with the right guy winning as Barnett landed a fine backdrop suplex to pin the Beast!

6:29 of 6:29 - Barnett pinned Sapp after a backdrop suplex

 

 

 

9. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima -vs- Naoya Ogawa & Atsushi Sawada [** 1/4]

--- Screw Ogawa. Love Sawada! He was the real soul of IGF here taking the shit beating. More stiff then he liked looking worried at his own chest as Sasaki landed blow after blow. It was mainly Sawada and Nakajima who were the generation battle while the stars Sasaki and Ogawa was taking care of each other, but Sawada was more hungry to fight so he tried to take on Sasaki at his own stiff game too! I bet he'll feel bad in the morning after all the chops, kicks and lariats he got here. They tried to make Ogawa's STO a big deal but compared to the real fighting going on it just looked weak. At the end Ogawa was knocked and kept out of the ring while Sasaki landed the final moves on Sawada - both STO and lariats. And Sawada soon found himself unable to kick out anymore. After the bout there was some not-so-nice words exchanged between Ogawa and Masahiro Chono who was doing commentating for this show.

14:25 of 14:26 - Sasaki pinned Sawada after a lariat

 

 

COMMENTS: One of the most enjoyable IGF shows I've seen! The matches were longer then usual giving them some time to establish something. You had Necro Butcher going crazy. You had a stiff main event and many stars of yesterday competing. Cool spectacle.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NOAH on Samurai TV - February 24, 2010, Odawara - (2 hrs)

 

 

February 24, 2010, Odawara Arena (1,200 fans)

 

1. Bobby Fish -vs- Genba Hiryanagi [*]

--- Easy going opener. About equals with Fish getting a rare victory driving the jumping knee to Genba's head.

9:47 of 9:48 - Fish pinned Hirayanagi after the Fish Hook

 

 

2. Ricky Marvin & Taiji Ishimori -vs- Masao Inoue & Kentaro Shiga [3/4*]

--- Shiga rings Marvin's bell~~~ But watching two old and washed up shits be the opponents of the fresh GHC Junior Heavyweight Champions was painful. After a struggling ending sequence the end was at least pleasing as Inoue being fooled into reversing the small package so his tag partner got pinned.

15:18 of 15:18 - Marvin pinned Shiga with a reversed small package

 

 

3. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa -vs- Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda [1/2*]

--- This was sad....

9:45 of 9:45 - Ogawa pinned Honda with a German Supelx cut-back cradle

 

 

4. Takashi Sugiura & Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki -vs- Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takashi Okita & Kento Miyahara [**]

--- NOAH stars against the young ones of Kensuke Office. And finally something good on this show. No classic, but at least it was a fight. And the KO guys put up a solid effort looking half-credible against guys they're not ranked to beat. And I'm fine with the end too as it gave someone who deserves to win the decision when Aoki made Miyahara submit to the cross-armbreaker. Sure, Miyahara is also someone I'd like see climb, but Aoki is first in line and is such a strong part of the New Japan feud and rarely gets the break he deserves.

19:01 of 19:01 - Aoki made Miyahara submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

5. Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima -vs- Bull Buchanan & Eddie Edwards [* 1/4]

--- The super combo of Sasaki & Morishima beating up the gaijins. The Buchanan vs Morishima sequences were just bad. They did not work well together. Timing issues all the way. It was easier to work with Edwards. And easier to beat. Morishima backdrop stopped him.

11:26 of 11:27 - Morishima pinned Edwards after a backdrop suplex

 

 

6. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Akitoshi Saito -vs- Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [* 1/2]

--- Man, Sano is unstoppable this year! Here he wins the match agains using the Northern Light Bomb which really is not a Northern Light Bomb, but a brainbuster. He beat the least relevant guy in Kanemaru. It's really Rikio & Yone he and Takayama are feuding with as they face for the GHC Tag Title on the Nippon Budokan show on February 28th. This was a decent match with the power striking style of wrestling, but it was fairly standard by any degree.

16:36 of 16:36 - Sano pinned Kanemaru after a Northern Light Bomb

 

 

COMMENTS: Not a special show at all. Started with a series of bad opening card matches and main event that was as ordinary as it gets.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

WAVE on COMM: WAVE MANIACS 1 - January-February 2010 - (3 1/4 hrs)

 

 

January 4, 2010, Tokyo - Shinjuku FACE (241 fans)

 

1. Gami -vs- Ryo Mizunami [*]

--- If you look away from Gami's stupid comedy bits, this was actually included some solid fighting because Mizunami is strong enough to handle Gami's deadmeat and peppered her with legdrops and a nice shoulder lock. However Gami insisted on ruining this by doing the Undersaker bit of stopping the three count by taking a grip on the referees arm before making the final count. And Gami did that about a half a dozen times for laughs. Or not so many laughs taking away any edge the good work could have made. Gami had some technical details too, but her execution is just too lazy for anything to look real good. And naturally Miss WAVE won it making the Sendai Girls wrestler submit to the Crippler Crossface.

7:08 of 14:17 - Gami made Mizunami submit to a Crippler Crossface

 

 

2. Mima Shimoda & Bullfight Sora -vs- Cherry & Sakura Hirota -vs- Gami & Commando Bolshoi - (3-Way) [1/2*]

--- "Happy Bithrday To Me!" Gami shouted as this was her 41st birthday. And this was the WAVE style comedy match with slow-mo and fast forward wrestling. Only Shimoda refused to follow those rules. And GAEA comedy queen Sakura Hirota was there trying to be charming and her and Sora double-pinned Gami declaring both teams winners over Gami & Bolshoi.

8:19 of 16:55 - Sora & Hirota pinned Gami with a cradle so both Simoda & Sora and Cherry & Hirota win

 

 

3. Mayumi Ozaki -vs- Yumi Ohka [* 1/2]

--- Ohka facing another experienced name like she always does and loses as WAVE got no political pull with Ohka. At least Ozaki made the queen look half-credible kicking the hardcore veteran down and neck-bombing her with confidence without getting the pin. Instead Ozaki was cunning enough to blow mist in Ohka's face roll her up for the pin.

8:56 of 14:30 - Ozaki pinned Ohka with a small package

 

 

4. Ayumi Kurihara -vs- Shuu Shibutani [* 1/4]

--- The equal battle. And it's almost like they still wrestle in rookie mode 5 years into their careers. Fine sprint wrestling, but always very basic and not too much standing out except Kurihara having the throat slam suplexes which she used to down Shibutani and win.

9:37 of 17:47 - Kurihara pinned Shibutani after a wrist-clutch throat slam suplex

 

 

January 20, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (104 fans)

 

5. Io Shirai -vs- Misaki Ohata [*]

--- Decent running around and doing cradles. Typical modern joshi wrestling and I didn't feel there was anything special about it. Then again nothing bad either. Just a quick energy match which Io won cradles wise.

6:24 of 8:44 - Shirai pinned Ohata after a backslide

 

 

6. Kana -vs- Shuu Shibutani [* 1/2]

--- Competitive with one hard headkick from Kana and several good slaps. So a striking game which Kana felt very much at home in with Shibutani putting up a decent fight even if there was never a time when you didn't understand who was the better of the two. And Kana showed that by locking Shibutani down in a Octopus Hold like submission down on the mat.

6:33 of 11:45 - Kana made Shibutani submit to a grounded Octopus Hold

 

 

7. Bullfight Sora -vs- Sakura Hirota

--- Hirota brought out a wind fan which blocked Sora's milk and referee Tommy Ran was on the receiving end of their bullshit resulting in her walking out before the bout ever started declaring it a no-contest.

0:00 of 0:00 - Sora wrestled Hirota to a No-Contest

 

 

8. Gami & Toshie Uematsu & Mio Shirai -vs- Kaoru & Yumi Ohka & Moeka Haruhi - (2/3 Falls) [* 1/4]

--- Clipped joshi action of the way we know it's done in 2010. Decent, standard and not all that captivating as there are so few to really care about. And you care a little bit less each time Gami wins a match.... the Oz Academy heels headed by Ozaki invaded the place after the match targeting Ohka.

1:50 of 15:03 - Mio pinned Haruhi after the Purple Flash

0:46 of 1:43 - Kaoru pinned Mio after the Excalibur

6:31 of 12:39 - Gami pinned Ohka after the Adios Amiga

 

 

January 31, 2010, Nagoya Club Diamond Hall (277 fans)

 

9. Manami Toyota -vs- Shuu Shibutani [*]

--- Glamorized squash the way Toyota likes doing them. She also got on some guys case ripping up his signs which probable was very pro-Shibutani. And then she beat up Shibutani....

9:27 of 13:50 - Toyota pinned Shibutani with the Japanese Ocean Cyclon Suplex Hold

 

 

10. Sonoko Kato & Toshie Uematsu & Sakura Hirota -vs- Gami & Yumi Ohka & Bullfight Sora - (2/3 Falls) [* 1/2]

--- This was Hirota more in old comedy form like she was back in GAEA. I actually laughed a little! That's not something that happens too often for comedy matches. Plus she had the help of other ladies from the GAEA generation to pick up the work when needed, but of course with Sora and Hirota there the match had to end on a comedy note and that came with Sora was about to blow milk in Hirota's face when Hirota kissed her to suck the cows milk and spray it back in Sora's face to pin her!

7:14 of 13:27 - Ohka pinned Hirota with a Tiger Suplex

1:40 of 3:34 - Kato pinned Gami with a Dragon Suplex

3:42 of 4:30 - Hirota pinned Sora with a Milk Attack

 

 

February 2, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (127 fans)

 

11. Kana & Yumi Ohka & Misaki Ohata -vs- Mio Shirai & Io Shirai & Gami - (2/3 Falls) [*]

--- Didn't get too exciting as execution wasn't up to the level they usually do when wanting to do good, but on a happy note Gami jobbed two in a row to Ohka!

7:18 of 16:04 - Ohka pinned Gami with a small package

1:58 of 2:32 - Ohka pinned Gami with a Tiger Suplex

 

 

February 13, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (124 fans)

 

12. Yuki Miyazaki & Misaki Ohata & Moeka Haruhi -vs- Mio Shirai & Io Shirai & Gami - (2/3 Falls) [* 1/4]

--- Miyazaki showed a lot of energy in short periods which works when a match is edited down so much and probable the best part was that Gami gave little Ohata a win when she used her driving crucifix cradle on Gami!

2:54 of 13:17 - Gami pinned Ohata after the Adios Amiga

3:18 of 4:41 - Miyazaki pinned Mio after a moonsault

3:39 of 10:47 - Ohata pinned Gami with the Sakauchi

 

 

13. Ryo Mizunami -vs- Bullfight Sora [1/4*]

--- Only a few minutes shown and basically nothing standing out. At least they didn't humiliate the Sendai Girl too much.

3:06 of 9:30 - Mizunami pinned Sora with a legdrop

 

 

14. Ryo Mizunami -vs- Sakura Hirota [1/2*]

--- Mizunami beating her second comedy girl of the day. And this match featured chocolate, and I love chocolate!

4:31 of 9:00 - Mizunami pinned Hirota with a small package

 

 

February 24, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (150 fans)

 

15. Mio Shirai & Io Shira -vs- Gami - (Handicap) [*]

--- Gami was very competitive in a handicap situation against the Shirai sisters. Too competitive really, but it's Gami we're talking about. At least the Shirai's brought some good action around the limited veteran....and WON!!! Gami are really letting her girls beat her so far this year!

10:54 - Mio pinned Gami after the Purple Flash

 

 

16. Yumi Ohka & Ryo Mizunami -vs- Bullfight Sora & Sakura Hirota [1/2*]

--- Comedy team of Sora & Hirota ruled the bout with their stupid stuff so that the serious girls had to turn silly too to win inculding Mizunami doing the Hirota headbutt and Ohka spraying milk.....

9:35 of 11:47 - Ohka pinned Sora with a small package

 

 

17. Kana -vs- Toshie Uematsu [*]

--- Serious technical fight with no winner. Was solid, but they were not able to go anywhere with it.

7:03 of 15:00 - Kana wrestled Uematsu to a 15:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

18. Ayumi Kurihara & Cherry & Shuu Shibutani -vs- Misaki Ohata & Moeka Haruhi & Tomoka Nakagawa - (2/3 Falls) [* 1/4]

--- Youth sprint. Standard, but I don't understand why they had to give a fall to Haruhi of all people they had. At least Shibutani got her win back in the end, but Haruhi has no credibility and that only hurts Shibutani had anyone cared.

2:38 of 3:38 - Haruhi pinned Shibutani with the Astro Scissors

3:57 of 7:44 - Kurihara pinned Ohata with a double kneepress

3:26 of 8:01 - Shibutani pinned Haruhi after a top rope senton

 

 

19. Yumi Ohka -vs- Mayumi Ozaki [* 3/4]

--- A chaotic brawl with the entire Ozaki gang interfering making it a very difficult and dramatic fight for Ohka. She got a little help from Gami, but that was nothing compared to the help and violence Ozaki came with using her chain and assistance to the maximum. That didn't stop Ohka from actually doing well at times locking in the Bloody-Ex and suplexing the Oz Academy boss for close wins. But then she got lucky as Takako accidentally stungun'ed Ozaki and Ohka followed straight up with a neck-hanging bomb to beat Ozaki!!! But after the match Ohka turned and sided with the lady she just beat joining Ozaki's gang!

6:50 of 10:34 - Ohka pinned Ozaki with a neck-hanging bomb

 

 

COMMENTS: The first couple of months of 2010 action from WAVE and it's ok, I guess. Nothing mindblowing, but they focused on Ohka's feud with Ozaki and the return of Sakura Hirota ruling the comedy part. Plus a bunch of 2/3 falls matches.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate on GAORA TV - February 27 & March 3, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

February 27, 2010, Kyoto KBS Hall (950 fans)

 

1. K-ness © -vs- Super Shisa - (Open the Brave Gate Title) [** 1/4]

--- Not a match I expected too much from, but they actually got a good climax to it with their non-explosive styles. A lot of different kinds of cradles moves, but they also had some bigger moves like K-ness doing the cross-arm Ligerbomb and Shisa winning the match with a twisting verson of the driving front cradle called Tornado Yoshitonic. The wrestling wasn't perfect as they were doing the traditional technical stuff, but they got the fans nicely into what they were doing and had a good match with Shida winning his first Dragon Gate singles title.

15:09 of 22:37 - Shisa pinned K-ness after the Tornado Yoshitonic to become the 17th Open the Brave Gate Champion.

 

 

2. Shingo Takagi & YAMATO & Akira Tozawa -vs- CIMA & Gamma & Dragon Kid - (Battle for Kagetora; Kamikaze vs Warriors) [**]

--- They're fighting for the rights to Kagetora! The former Warriors-5 and lately Real Hazzard wrestler who's now groupless after getting his ass kicked out of Real Hazzard. And it was a fan friendly action match of the lighter kind in the war for Kagetora. And Kagetora would get somewhat involved when someone would try and use the kendo stick and cheat. That however backfired, or I don't know, he at least tried to battle over a kendo stick which was then unexpected smashed over Gamma's head and Tozawa got the upset. So That means Kagetora is now a Kamikaze wrestler! However Warriors got their new member. A fresh faced Genki Horiguchi! Don't know why.....

18:23 of 22:27 - Tozawa pinned Gamma with a German Suplex

 

 

March 3, 2010, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (2,150 fans)

 

3. Yasushi Kanda & Kenichiro Arai -vs- Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness [*]

--- Didn't seem many cared about this one. No one truly over with the fans either as heels or babyfaces so when the Real Hazzard trashed the other two with the pattented cheating and so on, there wasn't really much fanfare except that seemed a little disappointing Yokosuka didn't put up more of a fight as Kanda dropped the diving elbow for the pin.

11:06 of 12:55 - Kanda pinned Yokosuka after a top rope elbow drop

 

 

 

4. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk -vs- YAMATO & Shingo Takagi & Akira Tozawa [**]

--- The lay-out was very standard Dragon Gate action. All the normal spots and going in all direction. The main focus was the build up for the Open the Dream Gate Title match between champion Doi and YAMATO coming up at the Sumo Hall show on March 22nd. And they've made YAMATO look strong before, but leading up to that main event they make the champ took unstoppable beating YAMATO clean with the bakatare sliding kick. Action wise I love the Death Valley Shingo did on Yoshino. That one was super spectacular!

19:18 of 21:46 - Doi pinned YAMATO after a bakatare sliding kick

 

 

COMMENTS: Good action. No doubt Dragon Gate know how to bring the in-ring athletics. Sadly there wasn't too much of the storylines that captivated me this time, but I bet more interesting stuff will happen at the big show that this show was leading up to.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NEO on COMM - February 28, 2010, Yokohama Dojo - (1 1/4 hrs)

 

 

February 28, 2010, Yokohama Dojo

 

1. Yuki Miyazaki -vs- Toshie Uematsu - (Blindfold Match) [1/4*]

--- Can you belive that this match was stupid......?!

8:22 of 8:22 - Miyazaki pinned Uematsu with a La Magistral

 

 

2. Nanae Takahashi -vs- Tanny Mouse [1/4*]

--- If they used bad language they'd be hit with a shoe.... that guarantees quality. And on top of that they used one of those big soft exercise balls to wrestle aswell....

13:08 of 13:08 - Takahashi pinned Tanny with a La Magistral

 

 

3. Kyoko Inoue & Makoto -vs- Yoshiko Tamura & Chii Tomiya [3/4*]

--- VERY standard NEO match with Tomiya as the VERY clear fallgirl. The match was just there with a tiny bit of fun as Kyoko was squashing the young one. But compared to this other shit on this show this was a epic.

17:46 of 17:45 - Inoue pinned Tomiya after a lariat

 

 

4. 5-Woman Battle Royal [1/4*]

--- A little battle royal happening while Yuki Miyazaki in a very pretty dress sang to the fans and she had to change song everytime someone was eliminated. She sang in a simple sweet voice while the others wrestled in a simple ugly way.

1:06 - Kyoko Inoue eliminated

2:48 - Makoto eliminated

4:03 - Chii Tomiya eliminated

8:38 - Tanny Mouse eliminated

8:38 of 8:38 - Yoshiko Tamura win the 5-Woman Battle Royal

 

 

COMMENTS: Waste of time comedy show for the hardcore NEO fans.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

HIKARU SATO PRODUCE on Samurai TV - February 28, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

February 28, 2010, Tokyo - Shinjuku Face

 

1. Mitsuhisa Sunabe -vs- Kikutaro [1/2*]

--- Kikutaro mixing his usual comedy stuff with a Pancrase fighter. This was done pro-wrestling style and it's not difficult to follow Kikutaro's shtick and Sunabe did the brainbuster spot and also countered a powerbomb with a huracanrana before making the clown tap.

7:41 of 7:40 - Sunabe made Kikutaro submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

2. Keita Yano & Kazuhiro Tamura -vs- Tiger Shark & Akifumi Saito [3/4*]

--- Battlarts style fighting and done fairly weak. Not impressed at all and the way Yano locked in the finishing hold just looked amateurish.

7:36 of 13:34 - Yano made Saito submit to a modified neckhold

 

 

3. Jin Akimoto -vs- Hikaru Sato [1/4*]

--- A 5-min exhibition match with Sato facing a fellow MMA guy Akimoto. These things usually go to the time limit without much fanfare. And the no-fanfare part was true about this one except Akimoto while pretending to have a smoke managed to defeat Sato by locking in a cross-armbreaker just second before the time limit.

4:48 of 4:47 - Akimoto made Saito submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

4. Apple Miyuki & Kana -vs- Mio Shirai & Io Shirai [*]

--- Joshi match with special stip of everyone wearing school related outfits which is mostly associate with Japanese AV. Not very serious wrestling, but a turn-on. I'll leave it at that.....

9:48 of 9:16 - Miyuki pinned Io after a top rope bodypress

 

 

5. Makoto Hashi -vs- Takaku Fuke -vs- Minoru Fujita -vs- Michael Nakazawa -vs- Danshoku Dino - (5-Way) [1/2*]

--- This was all kinds of painful as Dino was all over these guys. Less said the better. I can just mention the finish with Hashi suplex holding Fuke for the pin while Dino's had his head all sunk in Fuke's crotch.

9:45 of 9:29 - Hashi pinned Fuke with a modified fisherman's suplex

 

 

6. NOSAWA Rongai & Mazada -vs- Minoru Suzuki & Hikaru Sato [3/4*]

--- All kinds of lame and dull with NOSAWA & Mazada beating up Sato who nearly had to fight all by himself as Suzuki wasn't very interested in helping the cross-dressing shooter. And after a long and uneventful match with whippin' and stuff Sato was beat by Mazada of all people.

16:47 of 16:48 - Mazada pinned Sato after leg-hook DDT

 

 

7. Minoru Suzuki -vs- Hikari Sato [1/2*]

--- SQUASH!!!!

3:21 of 3:05 - Suzuki pinned Sato after a Gotch-style piledriver

 

 

COMMENTS: This was a rather weird show celebrating Hikaru Sato's 10 years in fighting covering his Pancrase career to his DDT career. There was more DDT inspired wrestling here then the serious MMA style.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

DDT/UNION PRO on Samurai TV - February 28, 2010, Tokyo - (2 hrs)

 

 

DDT - February 28, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (324 fans)

 

1. Dragonfly Aznable & Abnormal -vs- Sanshiro Takagi & Tomimitsu Matsunaga - (Red Comet Tryout; 7-Min Ironman Match) [1/2*]

--- Abnormal is Michael Nakazawa in sexy female stockings and matching wear. That's really all you need to know..... Dragonfly was Yoshiaki Yago. Don't care. He was the one that won this long 7-min Ironman match for the team.

00:00 of 00:11 - Takagi pinned Abnormal after a lariat

1:29 of 1:45 - Dragonfly pinned Matsunaga after a Iron Fingers punch

4:42 of 4:58 - Dragonfly pinned Takagi with a schoolgoy after shooting him in his head

5:07 of 5:24 - Dragonfly pinned Takagi with a grounded Cobra Twist

6:46 of 7:00 - Dragonfly & Abnormal defeated Takagi & Matsunaga 3-1

 

 

2. NOSAWA Rongai & Mazada & Minoru Fujita © -vs- Toru Owashi & HARASHIMA & Yukihiro Abe - (UWA Trios Title) [3/4*]

--- Final minutes aired of Fujitas beating up Abe to retain the belts. Felt like a decent bout, but absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. After the match Takagi came out to present a new guy called Kazuaki Hirata. He went on to win the Ironman Title from Michael Nakazawa before his pro-wrestling debut! His debut and first defence happens on March 14th Korakuen Hall!

3:50 of 14:58 - Fujita pinned Abe after a wrist-clutch Northern Light Bomb. NOSAWA & Mazada & Fujita retain the the UWA Trios Title in their 1st defence.

 

 

3. Masahiro Takanashi -vs- KUDO

--- Ha ha ha, this was supposed to be a big win for Takanashi, but he fucked up his surprise cradle twice and still won! Tallent~~~ Damn, that took the steam out of his special moment.

2:43 of 14:06 - Takanashi pinned KUDO with a small package

 

 

4. GENTARO © -vs- Dick Togo -vs- Danshoku Dino - (DDT Extreme Title; Triple Threat Submission Match) [1/2*]

--- Submission match with mostly gay group submissions.....

11:05 of 11:06 - GENTARO made Dino submit to a cross-armbreaker to retain the DDT Extreme Title in his 1st defence.

 

 

UNION PRO - February 28, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING

 

5. Isami Kodaka -vs- Hoshitango - (Barbed Wire Board Death Match) [3/4*]

--- More a mess then anything else. Boring too. Hoshitango doesn't fit into the hardcore wrestling style and Isami didn't seem too hyped for this destuction, but of course did so some kamikaze bumping just for the sake of it. He did escape death and won when he countered a Tombstone into a cradle to roll the big guy up.

11:08 of 11:19 - Isami pinned Hoshitango with a forward rolling cradle

 

 

6. Takeshi Oya & Cherry -vs- Kyosuke Sasaki & Hamuko Hoshi [1/2*]

--- Cherry being the whole show! Beating up this Sasaki and mostly mixing with Ice Ribbon's Hoshi. That guaranteed a bad time and I just wanted this to end. It eventually did and Cherry got to be the star.

7:11 of 12:22 - Cherry pinned Hoshi with a modified La Magistral

 

 

7. Shuji Ishikawa © -vs- Daisuke Sekimoto - (KO-D Title) [** 3/4]

--- Stiff and sluggish! Same formula as Ishikawa's defence against Yoshito Sasaki the month before of pounding each other down with the knees, lariats and impact landings. That was what made it so damn good and that's what held it back a little during the build up as there wasn't anything done to make it different or special. So relied totally on their standard formula clicking with the crowd and in many ways it did. It still lacked that 'Oh my God!' moment like Ishikawa's Dino defence had. Ok, it didn't have to do a Dino here, but something out of the ordinary for them to get something different then the impact wrestling across. But the blows landed and my favourite moment was Sekimoto kicking out of the Thunder Fire powerbomb which Ishikawa defeated Dino with! Instead of retaining once more Sekimoto cameback and beat the big guy down and once that German landed he wasn't kicking out. Big Japan's Sekimoto is now your DDT champion winning the belt on a Union Pro show! That's inter-promotional!

19:24 of 22:01 - Sekimoto pinned Ishikawa with a German Suplex to become the 31st KO-D Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: God, was the undercards for these shows painful in almost every way, but the KO-D Title match delivers once more!

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NOAH on G+SN - February 28, 2010, Tokyo - (3 1/4 hrs)

 

 

February 28, 2010, Tokyo - Nippon Budokan (9,500 fans)

 

1. Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue -vs- Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takashi Okita [* 1/4]

--- Bullshit! What the hell is giving Inoue the win over the Kensuke Office side good for?! Nothing! This was still one of the best performances Inoue has had since him comeback, but the quality here was more from the Kensuke Office wrestlers and not the NOAH veterans.

15:20 of 15:21 - Inoue made Okita submit to a Argentine backbreaker

 

 

2. Akira Taue & Bull Buchanan -vs- Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi [*]

--- Double Iron Balls Claw! Didn't stop Buchanan from Iron Claw'ing Genba to hell! Buchanan wasn't pleased with his partner either attacking Taue after the bout.

10:34 of 10:35 - Buchanan pinned Hirayanagi after the Iron Bomb

 

 

3. Ricky Marvin & Taiji Ishimori & Tamon Honda -vs- Akitoshi Saito & Eddie Edwards & Bobby Fish [* 1/2]

--- Mostly about the junior heavyweights. And thankfully so as they're much more colorful then the two aging out-of-shape heavyweights. However there was a few hick-ups and mis-communications along the way in this one and far from a well executed match. Still there was moments where it was ok with Fish doing his moonsault and Marvin working hard even if he did struggle to lock in the revesed Indian Death Lock properly. And in the end the fresh GHC Junior Tag Champion Ishimori could plant the Firebird and have Edwards beat.

13:55 of 13:54 - Ishimori pinned Edwards after a Firebird Splash

 

 

 

4. Kensuke Sasaki & Jun Akiyiama -vs- Naomichi Marufuji & NOSAWA Rongai [**]

--- Superstar teams! Kensuke Sasaki & Jun Akiyama and Naomichi Marufuji &.....NOSAWA?!?!? Hmmmm....who'd the odd one out in this one. Who'll take the fall? Ha ha, and they played that one out in a hillarious way with Sasaki really stiffing NOSAWA with chops whenever he had the chance. Nobody belived in NOSAWA and people were laughing at the situation as NOSAWA was totally out-matched and bullied by the muscle man. Marufuji had to fight to give his side some credibility, but it was limited what he could do with NOSAWA there. There was one point where NOSAWA was thinking he had the match on a La Magistral on Akiyama. However the referee was down. And once the referee was back up again and Sasaki had pumped NOSAWA chest with some more chops then Akiyama screamed 'finish' and beat NOSAWA with one Exploder.

14:11 of 14:11 - Akiyama pinned NOSAWA after a Exploder

 

 

 

5. Minoru Suzuki -vs- Atsushi Aoki [** 1/2]

--- Aoki's 10th and final Trial Match where he faces special opponents to gain experience. And this was turly a experience for him! MINORU SUZUKI!!! Who ever thought that'll be a good idea letting him into the ring with that heavyweight bully?! And Suzuki was having a blast slapping the life-shit out of Aoki who easily got a bloody mouth from the punishment Suzuki gave him. Suzuki would always lay in some cheapshot and what not to hurt the junior heavyweight. It looked like Aoki was just going to be trashed, but instead he kept growing though-out the fight. Aoki wasn't laying down and managed to give it back to Suzuki! And while it was difficult to belive he had a chance to win with the submissions over such a established superstar it was cool to see him try. Not surprisingly though Suzuki responded by locking in his own cross-armbreakers with Aoki fighting himself to the ropes a couple of times, but Suzuki kept on and finally Aoki had to submit. So Aoki has faced the following 10 wrestlers in his Shining Magic 10 Match Series: 1) Jun Akiyama (December 23, 2007), 2) Davey Richards (January 6, 2008), 3) KENTA (February 15, 2008), 4) Bryan Danielson (May 15, 2008), 5) Yoshinari Ogawa (June 14, 2008), 6) Kaz Hayashi (October 5, 2008), 7) Yoshinobu Kanemaru (November 14, 2008), 8) Jushin Liger (June 22, 2009), 9) Naomichi Marufuji (December 6, 2009), 10) Minoru Suzuki (February 28, 2010). And result wise it ended with 9 loses and 1 win which came against Davey Richards.

15:51 of 15:51 - Suzuki made Aoki submit to a cross-armbreaker

 

 

 

6. Toshiaki Kawada -vs- Takeshi Morishima [* 3/4]

--- Not sure what to make of this match. Can't say it had much of a flow or super motivated. Yet it brought some wonderful moments such as Kawada being a obnocious little child not wanting to sit in his chair Morishima had planted him in. Later Morishima just dropped all his weight on Kawada's chest on the apron side as Kawada was trying for a powerbomb. There was countless of Vader Hammers and lariats. Kawada's top moment was the elbows before he landed the knuckle punch! Then he went on to kick Morishima's head in a couple of times and just sat on the pudding to get the arrogant pin with the fans in disbelief at what they'd just seen happen with Kawada beating Morishima royally in 10 minutes.

10:27 of 10:27 - Kawada pinned Morishima after a headkick

 

 

 

7. Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone © -vs- Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano - (GHC Tag Title) [** 1/4]

--- Ai ai ai! Yone was almost out cold with the first minute as the stiff boys layed in the finishers straigth away! Rikio came to the rescue with his sumo and evened it out a little. At least calmed the rampage down and the match could go down to their ordinary washed-up tempo. The stiffin' continues though and while execution wasn't great the fans seemed to care for at least some of this. Felt they really wanted Takayama & Sano to win and was disappointed when Rikio would save Yone. And Sano has really been pushed as a Superman this year and here he even kicks out one of the most protected finishers in NOAH in recent years. Yone's Muscle Buster! The fans loved that and popped big. That cheering would soon stop though as Rikio & Yano did a double-team version of the Muscle Buster and then Yone managed to pin Sano to retain the belts.

19:35 of 19:36 - Yone pinned Sano after a double-team Muscle Buster. Rikio & Yone retain the GHC Tag Title in their 1st defence.

 

 

 

8. Takashi Sugiura © -vs- Togi Makabe - (GHC Title) [*** 1/4]

--- NOAH vs NJPW as the main event and it's for Sugiura's GHC Heavyweight Title! Best part of the first few minutes was the one guy in the crowd shouting "Togi, I love you!". Awesome! Makabe ended up trying to injure Sugiura's knee smashing chairs over it and putting it, or trying to put it through a table. And that knee bothered the champion a lot in this match and it made Makabe all cocky in control with a nice grin on his sucker. There was one slip-up in this match on a Makabe powerbomb spot. Makabe lifted him up, but some mis-communication made him let him down again without any attack. What happend next was the best moment of the match however as a pissed Makabe went for the powerbomb again and threw Sugiura hard out of the ring and on to the rampway! Makabe continued to be the boss, but Sugiura still had life in him and did get in the Olympic Slam which got him a....ONE COUNT! Makabe continued and looked to be on the way to winning when the Spider German landed. All he needed to do was get up and do the King Kong Kneedrop, but Makabe was too slow and Sugiura caught him before he could get anywhere. And then came Sugiura's BIG moment! TOP ROPE OLYMPIC SLAM!!! Yeah, that's a three count! The match really felt like a big deal and with a nice climax ending with pro-wrestling logic they finished off quite a beauty of a fight.

26:07 of 26:08 - Sugiura pinned Makabe after a top rope Olympic Slam to retain the GHC Title in his 2nd defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: This show ended up being a real good one with the main event highening it like a main event should! A lot of the undercard matches was wasted, but you still had positive experiences as Suzuki vs Aoki, and to some degree the GHC Tag Title match and the unexpected twists in the Kawada vs Morishima bout.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

BJPW on COMM - March 2, 2010, Tokyo - (1 3/4 hrs)

 

 

March 2, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING (246 fans)

 

1. Taro Yamada -vs- Takumi Tsukamoto [1/2*]

--- Yamada is 666 wrestler The 101 being a serious wrestler and not a blind wrestler as he is in 666. Regardless this was a dead boring basic match with no hope of getting good until the time limit expred.

10:02 of 10:00 - Yamada wrestled Tsukamoto to a 10:00 Time Limit Draw

 

 

2. Masashi Takeda & Isami Kodaka -vs- Mototsugu Shimizu & Kankuro Hoshino - (Hardcore) [* 1/4]

--- I wasn't expecting too much from this. Sure it had Takeda & Isami, but it also featured Shimizu & Hoshino as a team. But I guess they got a acceptable match out of it with the limited potential it had brining in the chairs for the violence spots. And with Takeda in a working mood we got some decent wrestling before he finished Shimizu off.

11:24 of 11:24 - Takeda pinned Shimizu after a Olympic Slam on chairs

 

 

3. Jun Kasai & Abdullah Kobayashi & Shadow WX & Jaki Numazawa -vs- Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshito Sasaki & Yuji Okabayashi & Kazuki Hashimoto [* 1/2]

--- The BJPW wrestling guys taking on the BJPW hardcore guys in a straight wrestling 8-man tag! Small show atmosphere and workrate, I'm affraid. And the wrestling guys had a rookie on their side and the hardcore guys didn't. So the result was set. It did get fun seeing Hashimoto try and battle Kasaki over the finish though with Hashimoto nailing Kasai with a somewhat dangerous kick for a rookie to give to a veteran. But no surprise, Hashimoto did get his ass beat by the "Tokyo Sports Best Bout" winner.

17:31 of 17:29 - Kasai pinned Hashimoto after a top rope bodypress

 

 

4. Shuji Ishikawa -vs- Ryuichi Kawakami [*]

--- Most of the time this wasn't very interesting as big Union Pro wrestler Ishikawa was handling the less experienced Kawakami rather easy, but Kawakami did get in that German for his hot moment, plus surived soem hard offence like the kneelift, so it ended on a fairly ok note as Ishikawa Splash Mountain'ed Kawakami for the three.

11:46 of 11:45 - Ishikawa pinned Kawakami with a modified Splash Mountain

 

 

5. Takashi Sasaki -vs- Mototsugu Shimizu - (Barbed Wire Board Death Match) [*]

--- Like a show needs two matches with Shimizu. And two hardcore ones aswell. And why they had to let this last so long? Sasaki was easily in control and there is no reason why they should let Shimizu look even remotely as competitive as they ended up doing. This match was good for any time Sasaki would crap on Shimizu with anything with barbed wire on and for when Shimizu was unable to get the barbed wire board into the ring as it was tangled onto another board. Fun seeing him struggle like that and having to give up. And when Sasaki had Shimizu beat with a Fire Thunder on the wire, the referee, the dreadful 666's The 101, fucked things up by thinking it wasn't the end and not counting the three. So a pissed Sasaki had to do the finish again poor guy. Now don't give The 101/Yamada any more jobs Big Japan. PLEASE!!!

15:23 of 15:22 - Sasaki pinned Shimizu after a Fire Thunder Tombstone piledriver on a barbed wire board

 

 

6. Ryuji Ito -vs- Kankuro Hoshino - (Light Tube Death Match) [** 1/4]

--- Ito and the lovable cluts Hoshino having a fun hardcore/light tubes battle in which got very bloody and with some awesome violence moments as Hoshino will do anything to get himself noticed. And that included being sent off the turnbuckle onto side placed chairs bumping big on that one aswell as being involved in some very crushing light tubes spots which made everyones heart warm. It was just piss fun to watch Hoshino destroy himself. And with the help of Ito who Dragon Splashed him full of more broken glass it was a happy ending.

14:41 of 14:39 - Ito pinned Hoshino after a top rope bodypress with light tubes

 

 

7. Isami Kodaka -vs- Yuko Miyamoto -vs- Masashi Takeda - (3-Way No Ropes Barbed Wire Ladder Death Match) [* 1/2]

--- This one is to build up for the BJPW Death Match Title bout between Isami and champion Miyamoto on the March 19th Korakuen Hall show, so you could smell that Isami might get the win here to try and make him a credible challenger. And that was a right asumption as he beat Miyamoto with that forward rolling cradle driver of his that he calls Rasengan. The actual match was so-so. Barbed wire wrestling isn't as exciting as it was 15 or so years ago, but some decent bumps with it was done like Takeda fallling wrecklessly out of the ring to the floor taking two barbed wire threads with him. The more devestaing bumps involved the ladder, but they're saving the best for the big match.

13:22 of 13:19 - Isami pinned Miyamoto with the Rasengan

 

 

COMMENTS: Some of the matches showed that this was just a small show, but some like Hoshino and some other guys tried their best to get noticed.

 

 

--PUNQ--