I’ve been in Japan for a few days for some great wrestling action at Korakuen Hall. Here’s a rundown of what I’ve seen:
Dragon Gate:
Yosuke Santa Maria & Stalker Ichikawa (dressed as Stan Hansen for the second time this week) vs.Ryo Jimmy Saito & Genki Horiguchi H.A.GeeMeee!!!
Super fun comedy match with some good action at times.Santa Maria is such an entertaining performer and really got to shine here. Her push continued with a pinfall win over Genki.
Don Fujii & U-T vs. Kaito Ishida & Takehiro Yamamura
Wow, this was incredible. It had everything you’d want from it. Don Fujii being surly and beating the tar out of the young guys, the young guys being ultra-competitive with each other, great crowd heat and a fantastic finish. This was perfect for what they set out for.
El Lindaman vs. T-Hawk
Huge upset here as Lindaman got the biggest singles victory of his career, knocking off T-Hawk with a Cross Armbreaker after ten minutes of good action.
Kzy, CIMA & Gamma vs. Monster Express
Excellent fast paced trios match, with charisma abound. Like in the last match, this had a huge result as Big R Shimizu beat CIMA clean with the Shot Put Slam. The crowd went wild for the finish.
The stip here was that Punch had to retire if he lost. The result was a white hot atmosphere with the crowd living and dying with the nearfalls. Eita made Kotoka tap with the El Numero Uno. The finishing stretch of this was just out of this world.
Verserk vs. The Jimmys
With special “Jimmy for a night”, Masaaki Mochizuki in tow, the Jimmys scored a huge victory in the main event after 20 minutes of insane action. They did an incredible job weaving Verserk strife into a match which involved so much coordination and timing. It was incredible to watch a match like this in front of the Japanese fans. Susumu pinned YAMATO after a vicious Jumbo No Kachi lariat. Watch out for The Jimmys entrance and yours truly getting involved.
Post match, Verserk split into two sides to set up the annual DEAD OR ALIVE cage match where hair and masks are at stake. We got a bonus 19 second Cyber Kong/Mondai Ryu match to determine who could avoid the Cage. Mondai won.
Sendai Girls
This was the biggest show in the history of the promotion as they hit Korakuen Hall for the first time headlined by the renewal of a classic rivalry.
Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura
The result was a bona-fide Match Of The Year Candidate. I saw all the big matches from Mania weekend while I’ve been over here and this topped everything. It also topped the incredible Daisuke Sekimoto main event I saw last week at BJW. Aja Kong looked as good as she did in her prime. Not only was her offence looking fantastic but her selling and the subtle little things she did added so much to the match and made me realise I was watching one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
However, she was topped by Satomura, who was absolutely heroic as the babyface. Her fire and her execution were on another level from almost anyone I’ve ever seen in person before. I knew she was good, real good, but not this good. Satomura won the match after an epic closing stretch and retained the title. Kong sold the loss, and the damage, brilliantly after the match. It was like Godzilla being taken down, and slumping away to fight another day.
The undercard was a really fun variety show. We had a hard hitting opening tag match, a comedy match, a really good hardcore match pitting Hikaru Shida & Syuri against KAORU & DASH Chisako, and an awesome veteran vs rookie match as Nanae Takahashi defeated hot prospect Chihiro Hashimoto. This show airs on the 16th, and the main event is absolutely must-see stuff.
New Japan is back this morning in Korakuen Hall as the Road to Invasion Attack continues! On hand tonight is a six man tag featuring all of Los Ingobernables Japon taking on top members of Chaos. We’ll also see a big elimination match as the co-man, always a delight as these type of matches work pretty well in NJPW.
Hirai Kawato vs. Teruaki Kanemitsu
Solid opener. These two are pretty good considering how many matches they’ve had. That’s the entire point of the dojo though, to refine basic skills until you can graduate to having matches, and here they had a basic match with some fun back and forth between the two. Kanemitsu had the Boston Crab on Kawato but the ten minute time limit expired, thus turning it to a draw. He stomped on Kawato after the match and looked upset.
David Finlay vs. Jay White
Good match. These two have pretty good chemistry with one another. White looked really good. People buy into him and got behind him whenever he did a comeback or had a clever counter. Finlay is also very good. Both have a ton of potential down the line. Finlay had White on his shoulders, but White escaped and managed to counter into a boston crab, the required finish for all young lions. Finlay tried to escape, but ultimately couldn’t and tapped.
Kushida, Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger vs. RPG Vice and Gedo
Pretty solid stuff. It was very much your usual New Japan six man tag, but but the crowd was into it and maybe a bit more shorter than usual. Kushida stood apart from everyone else in terms of skill, he’s just fantastic at this point. Romero worked on trying to get the mask off of Tiger Mask during the match but couldn’t do it. Gedo & Kushida had a fun exchange towards the end with Kushida getting the submission with the hoverboard lock..
Kushida cut a promo on Chaos after the match, then danced with his friends. That’s nice!
Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
Not that interesting. It’s not the best four guys I’d put together to have a match. Wound up as a brawl on the outside fairly quickly with Yano using chairs and the like outside the ring. Nakanishi made a hot tag, or whatever you’d want to call it, and took down Yano. Nakanishi took out Yoshi-Hashi as he and Yano battled it out. Yano used the ref to his advantage, grabbing and lifting him high in the air. When Nakanishi went to check on him, Yano low blowed him and got the win with a roll up.
Katsuyori Shibata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tencozy
Good match. Largely a backdrop for the future NEVER title match coming at Invasion Attack, but still good stuff. Shibata and Tenzan went right at it at the bell. Kojima and Taguchi worked together as well, though wasn’t as interesting. Shibata kicked Tenzan right on the face on the apron, sending him crashing to the floor. He managed to get up rather quickly to be tagged in for the comeback. Maaaaaybe sell that spot a bit more. Kojima and Taguchi went at it for a while. Taguchi blocked a lariat attempt but after hitting a boma ye and attempting his own finish, Kojima clocked him with a lariat and pinned him.
Shibata and Tenzan continued to go at it after the match, with referees and young lions having to pull the two apart.
Elimination match: Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tonga Roa
Pretty fun match. Most elimination matches in New Japan are, as they’re pretty much full of action from start to finish. Everyone got a chance to shine early. Elgin came in and destroyed Yujiro, giving him a buckle bomb. Omega tried to stop it, but Elgin grabbed him off the top rope and powerbombed him into Yujiro, allowing Elgin to eliminate him with a powerbomb. Elgin and Omega fought to the outside of the apron where Elgin gave Omega a Death Valley Driver onto all of his opponents on the outside. Robinson made a comeback but Roa and Tonga hit their new finisher and pinned him, evening the odds.
Honma fought back but got eliminated after a huge dropkick by Roa, sending him off the top rope to the floor. Roa was eliminated after two lariats to the outside, and soon after that both Tama Tonga and Makabe eliminated themselves going over the top rope. All that’s left is Tanahashi and Fale. They have some good back and forth until Tanahashi gets the win with a hurricanrana into a rollup. At least, that’s what they tried, but the execution wasn’t exactly there.
Fale beat up on Tanahashi after the match. They’re still teasing something with these two as they’ve squared off on and on since New Beginning.
Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto vs. Evil, Tetsuya Naito and Bushi
Fun main event. Everyone worked with one another and everything built up pretty well. Okada and Naito worked against one another and looked really good. They’ve had great matches in the past, so Invasion Attack shouldn’t be any different. Goto cleaned house as Okada set his sights on Evil. Bushi tried to interfere but was immediately given a Rainmaker. Evil came in but got tombstoned, then pinned after another Rainmaker.
Okada was about to do his promo, but Naito (after acting calm and tranquillo following the bell) ran in and took out Gedo. Okada chased him out as he cut a promo on Naito to close out the show.
Fun show overall. Nothing blow away, but if you like elimination and multi man matches, along with a couple of rookie bouts, this show is right up your alley.
Tonight’s Road to Show is a themed show! That’s great as these shows are usually a bunch of tag matches with or two singles. We are still getting a bunch of tags (well, three) but we’re also getting a best of five series tonight between New Japan and Bullet Club.
Toru Yano, Rocky Romero, Beretta and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kushida, Jushin Thunder Liger, David Finlay and Tiger Mask
It was your standard NJPW eight man tag opener. Good, solid action that set the tone for the night. It was cool in that you saw some people interact with each other where it couldn’t happen under normal circumstances. For example, Liger and Ishii worked together and it was actually pretty interesting. Kushida worked with him briefly as well. That would be a very interesting match if it were ever to happen. Yano was only in there briefly, doing his usual deal with the Finlay made his comeback but RPG Vice countered. Romero took out Kushida with a dive, then they followed with the dropkick/dudebuster combo for the win.
Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Captain New Japan, Juice Robinson and Katsuyori Shibata
Why did Shibata agree to tag with Captain New Japan? Eh, I always bring this up but someone should go to management and mention CNJ’s never, like, won a match. If this were real he’d be canned a long time ago, old or not. The Old Lion Squad beat up Shibata and isolated him early. Kojima managed to thwart Taguchi’s hip attacks. It was Nagata who worked with CNJ towards the end. All of Shibata’s team mates tried to help take down Nagata but it was no use as he got the backdrop driver on CNJ and pinned him. It wasn’t that good or even interesting. Wrong team dynamics here.
Tenzan and Shibata got into a big brawl after the match, with Tenzan pelting Shibata with chairs as his team mates tried to stop him. They’re competing for the NEVER title at Invasion Attack.
Cody Hall vs. Michael Elgin
This is Hall’s first singles match in New Japan if I recall correctly. If not it’s been a very long time. He’s still green in spots but has tons of potential, has good facials and has improved dramatically in the last year. They had a short, but pretty solid back and forth match with Elgin getting the win, pinning Hall with a powerbomb pinning combination.
Jay White vs. Kenny Omega
This was pretty good. White is really good technically at this point. Crowd was kind of quiet early, but got into it towards the end, especially when White was making his comeback and was getting all the close submissions/near falls. Omega cut him off with a snap German suplex then a knee strike, pinning White to even things up.
Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Yujiro seems to not even have Mao or his cool theme song anymore at this point. He just came out to the usual Bullet Club theme. Tanahashi came out but Yujiro jumped him immediately. This was fine – short, but was probably the right amount of length. Yujiro low blowed him at one point and got a near fall with a cradle. Yujiro bumped into the referee towards the end of the match, and Tanahashi returned the favor. He gave him the sling blade, high fly flow, boom, there’s your winner.
Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale
I liked this match in the sense it told a nice story. People were into Honma’s comebacks and were totally behind him. Honma fought hard early but Fale took him to town and dominated, as he’s the big giant of the promotion. Fale beat him up forever and ever until he escaped the Bad Luck Fall and scored a roll up for a nearfall. Fale gave him a GIGANTIC lariat in retaliation, then pinned him with the Bad Luck Fall.
Tama Tonga vs. Togi Makabe
This is the deciding match in the best of five series as they’re tied with two wins each. This wasn’t really anything interesting. Not terrible, but I couldn’t get into it. Just a lot of back and forth brawling with no real significant heat. Tonga did do a ref spot and a gun stun at one point. Makabe fought him off, hit the spider German suplex and was going for the King Kong knee drop when Tonga Roa came in and shoved him off the top rope, then continued beating him for the DQ. So technically, the New Japan guys win the best of five battle.
Roa and Tonga beat up on Makabe (Honma was destroyed in the previous match) as young lions try to intervene, but Roa throws them around easily. They laid out Makabe one more time with a modified double team version of Tonga’s finish (waistlock DDT). Tonga cut a promo saying they are GOD – Guerillas of Destruction. Cool name. Don’t know if this team will work, but we’ll see. It’s something new at the very least.
Ingobernables were mean early with Bushi choking out Yoshi-Hashi and Naito beating up Gedo all the way back to the backstage area. What’s funny here is that now Crowd were into Goto as opposed to booing him, I guess because he finally joined Chaos. He and Evil worked pretty good together. Okada and Naito had some good back and forth before he tagged in Yoshi-Hashi. He made a good comeback and battled out of the Destino and walloped Naito with a lariat. There was another ref spot. That’s like three matches tonight where there’s been some sort of ref bump, pretty excessive and unnecessary. This allowed the heels to lay everyone out and pin Yoshi-Hashi for the win.
The original alternate returns with what’s basically a demo tape, that we hope will get us to the mix tape, as we move towards a whole album of a show. And, as a large, bearded, Albanian man once sang, “There’s no hit records on the demo.” But there are topics that include, but aren’t limited to: Apologies world, NOAH more Suzuki-Gun, NJPW, TAKA and Taichi produce EASTER without messy crucifixions or pastel colored eggs, Atsushi Onita takes another Bible story (sort of) to produce death via Barbed Wire Boards and Deadly Poison Apples, as well as some other things that were scribbled down illegibly. It’s the radio show that’s often imitated, but never duplicated (which probably makes sense); It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~! Proudly here at F4WOnline.com.
The original alternate is back to catch all of the feels on our 10th anniversary show. Well, not all of them as we didn’t really expect to do a special when we hit record. But, enough feels to make you either tear up a bit, or soil yourself. Or both.
The nostalgia includes, but isn’t limited to: changes in the biz and show over the years, remember when nothing happened in Japan?, why we do what we do, a meeting of the Inspirational Alan4L Appreciation Society, names like KEN 45, octopus, Turkish oil wrestling, porpoise slapping, some thoughts on Hayabusa, and much more. Upset we didn’t mention Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend in one of several languages? Or RAMBONE~! Or Super Strong Sean Avery Machine?! (Just kidding, he’s mentioned.)
Don’t worry, we’ll catch back over decade number 2. Thanks everybody! It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDO NIGHTMARE!
Announced last year, this morning’s Lion’s Gate event was the first in what is to be a regular series of events highlighting rookies from New Japan, NOAH, and other associated promotions with New Japan. Tonight’s card is a mixture of NOAH and New Japan rookies and veterans squaring off in a nice mix of singles and tag matches.
Takumi Honjo vs. Shuhei Taniguchi
Taniguchi is the former Maybach Taniguchi who I guess has taken off his mask in recent weeks and has sided in NOAH in their battle against Suzuki-gun. This is Honjo’s debut match, graduating from the New Japan dojo. The former Maybach isn’t the best first match to have. Honjo looked like someone in his first match and Taniguchi wasn’t that good. Honjo got some chants going for him at least. Taniguchi got the win quickly with a Boston crab.
Kawato Hirato vs. Hitoshi Kumano
Kawato is the really young NJPW lion, only 18 years old. He looked good here and showed some fire with his offense, and his strikes look good. This didn’t last long either. Kuwato him have some offense, cut him off and pinned him with a fisherman’s suplex.
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Kiyomiya is a NOAH rookie, wearing green tights as I guess that’s the rule over in that promotion. He has a good dropkick and handled basics pretty well. It was very much in the same formula as the previous two matches. Taguchi eventually cut him off and got the win with the dodon.
David Finlay vs. Taiji Ishimori
Pretty good while it lasted. Ishimori came off looking really good, doing some great dynamic spots throughout the match. I wonder why he didn’t get a spot in the Super Juniors tournament last year. Finlay got some great near falls and submissions, including the stretch muffler. Ishimori gave him a lot. ishimori gave him a uranage then followed with a 450 for the win.
Jay White vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Another good match. White looked good here too. He’s the best out of the current crop of the young lions in terms of overall athleticism and ability. He would have been my rookie of the year if Chad Gable hadn’t come along. He took a lot of this match and people were behind him big time. He even handled some mat wrestling with Ogawa well. He cut him off with an eye poke and tried to go for a superplex but White stopped him. Ogawa avoided him, gave him a dragon screw and put him in a figure four, submitting him.
Lion’s Gate Project 2 was announced for 5/19.
Quiet Storm vs. Manabu Nakanishi
I haven’t seen a singles bout from Nakanishi in forever. There’s a good reason for that. Storm is an interesting story as he wrestled in the very early era of Ring of Honor, was mostly a small independent level guy, then went to Japan in the mid 2000s and has pretty much found consistent work there ever since. They did a lot of big guy spots even though Nakanishi is about a head taller than Storm. Wasn’t bad. Nakanishi can only do so much, but he got all of this spots in and was fine. After Storm teased putting the Rack on Nakanishi, he cut him off and put him in the rack, with Storm quickly submitting.
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH
Genba was billed as Captain Genba as he was wearing a mask like Captain NOAH’s. Kojima & Tenzan dominated a lot of the match. Genba got heat momentarily by cutting off Kojima with a testicular claw. That’s one way of halting a comeback. The masked duo got double submissions on Tencozy but they didn’t submit. Kojima came back with a diamond cutter and a brainbuster but NOAH broke it up, only to get a 3D. Genba tried to get a cheap win with the claw again and a roll up, but Kojima hit the ropes and scored a lariat for the win. Perfectly fine match.
Juice Robinson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
This was pretty good. Robinson was given a lot and has improved a lot in his time here with New Japan. He’s that weird situation where it doesn’t seem like he’s a young lion, but not really a pushed guy either in New Japan, so he was given a lot more here than other young lions in previous matches. Nakajima is riding a big wave of momentum as he’s pinned Minoru Suzuki and is probably next in line for the GHC Heavyweight title. Robinson also got over big time with the crowd as they were with him from the start. Lots of back and forth great action. Nothing too fancy, but a really well worked match that people got into. Nakajima picked up the win after a brainbuster.
Yuji Nagata vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya
Kitamiya looked good against Nagata, who did a good job in this match. There’s the occasional showing his age signs here and there, but he’s still a tremendous preformer and looked great here. He gave Kitamiya a lot and they had a pretty good back and forth match, as was the theme for many of tonight’s matches. Nagata hit the backdrop driver but Kitamiya kicked out. Kitamiya laid into Nagata with some slaps but Nagata no sold them and fired back with another backdrop driver for the win. Very nice main event with a great finish.
Nagata said a few things to close out the show.
Overall, this was a solid show. Quality wise, maybe about your average New Japan house show, maybe a little less. Nothing really bad, mostly solid to good. The unique matches really added a lot to the show and made it a fun watch.
Start here on NicoNico. Note there is often a discount for ordering shows early. Korakuen Hall shows are traditionally 1500 points/yen and the big Pay Per Views are at 2160 points/yen for a preorder and 2700 pts/yen day of show.
Overall, the process is very easy:
1- Sign up for a free account. You can Google Translate the page to make it easier, but the registration is fairly standard, so it’s not really needed.
3 – Go here to buy points. Note that any that you have left over after your purchase can be used the next time.
4 – When you click on the points you want to buy, you’ll be presented with several payment options. As you proceed, it’s the gold buttons with Japanese writing that confirm each step (the grey button is cancel).
5 – Once you’ve bought your points, go back to the show page. Click the big red button near the bottom. That will confirm that you’ve bought the show with X of your Y points, and you have Z left:
6 – You have the ability now to watch live. If you want to “timeshift” it, simply hit the yellow button that says Timeshift which appears on the show page and where the show is listed in your account. This will allow you to watch on demand for a week or so after the event.
7 – To be sure you’ve done everything right, go here. It should look like this:
That’s all there is to it. It took me about 3 minutes for the whole process and it was very easy. The best news for me is that they have EVERY Dragon Gate show both live and on demand, including all the Korakuens, alll the TVs and all the big shows!
CIMA has been removed from the card due to a minor illness. The rookie Yamamura has been moved into his spot, and now facing Mochizuki in his place will be the always vivacious Yosuke <3 Santa Maria.
T-Hawk vs. Gamma
A match randomly picked by children at the last show. Gamma gained control early and managed a trademark wipe-of-his-saliva all over T-Hawk, but was given a receipt in the form of a brainbuster. He regained the advantage but ate a splash mountain from T-Hawk. T-Hawk going for the Niteride early. An attempted spit in the face of T-Hawk was blocked, as Gamma was hit with a reverse powerslam, but managed to get a couple two counts off a roll up. Despite their efforts, the match reached it’s 5 minute time limit. They shook hands. A draw, then Gamma spit in his face and ran out of the ring. Gross.
Genki & Ryu started out trading headlocks. Genki got a dropkick and a kip up. They tagged out, where Kong quickly won a test of strength. Genki back in, but was dropped and nailed with a DiBiase-like falling fist. Jimmyz did manage to regain some momentum with some double teaming on Ryu until Kong interfered. Other members of VerserK smiled in approval from the outside. Ryu mounted Genki in the corner and rubbed his crotch in Genki’s face. Some double teaming from VerserK, but Genki out at two. He attempted a rana, which Kong blocked, but was successful hitting a DDT. Tag into Saito, both Ryu & Saito attempted Saito’s cycling yahoo with Saito finally getting it on a 3rd attempt. More VerserK double teaming left the Jimmyz down, but Saito broke up a two count off a big Kong Frog Splash. Combinations from the Jimmyz now, also ending in a two count being broken up off a Frog Splash. Finally, some VerserK miscommunication led to Saito getting the pin. There appeared to be dissension between the two VerserK members following the match.
Over Generation came out for an in-ring promo after the match. They called a kid into the ring who was wearing their t-shirt.
Big R Shimizu vs. Kaito Ishida
The kid was supposed to ring the bell to start the match, but accidentally jumped the gun prematurely, in a funny bit. Shimizu displayed his power to start, tossing Ishida around the ring. There was a point this year where Big R Shimizu was having a better year than Big E Langston, though it is clear the latter has regained the lead. Ishida attempted chops but was no match for the big man. Ishida is mighty small at this point to come across as a threat. He did slap him in the face twice and nail a missile dropkick for a two however. He connected with kicks, extremely technically sound in doing so. Shimizu regained control and hit the big spinning slam, and a tree slam for two. Ishida managed a nice roll up for a fun two count, but was quickly put down with the Shot-put Chokeslam for a three.
Yosuke <3 Santa Maria vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
No idea why she wasn’t on the card in the first place, as entertaining as anyone on the roster. Yosuke cut a promo before the match, wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and welcomed her opponent to the ring. Mochizuki won in less time than Conor McGregor, and made a beeline for the locker room. Yosuke cut another promo, asking for an immediate rematch, this being a staple of Dragon Gate.
Yosuke <3 Santa Maria vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Big chops from Yosuke, ducking Mochi’s offense and hitting a dropkick. Then no selling his stuff and showing some athleticism, and hit a gigantic dive to floor, placing her foot on his head in triumph. Awesome. Dragon screw from Yosuke as she is controlling the entire match. Mochi regained control and stiffed her with a gigantic boot in the corner. Two count, but Yosuke fighting back. Huge right hand from Mochi. Yosuke with a sweet spring board dropkick and leg lariat for two. Rather than rub her face in his crotch in a trademark spot, she hit the bonzai drop instead. She ate two boots in return, but showed fight and returned fire with a chop, but was nailed with two more kicks, however kicking out at two. Crowd behind her now, and she hits a suplex.
To the top, but Mochi follows her up there. Superplex but she pops right up! Big kiss and crucifix for an absolutely great two count. A couple kicks from Mochi and she gets another one. Another couple nearfalls and the crowd is way into this. Mochi finally gets the three with the Sankakugeri. Mochi led the crowd in applause for Maria Chan after the match. She planted a kiss on him and he reciprocated. This was absolutely everything you want out of pro wrestling, mixing a great match with fun entertainment.
Jimmyz (Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy K-Ness) vs. Dia.HEARTS (Dragon Kid & Kzy)
Susumu was a reindeer here. Kzy & K-Ness started with a few minutes of comedy, well received by the crowd, not so much by their partners. A little bit of action, but the match morphed back into comedy shortly after. Finally something of a match broke out. Double teaming from the Jimmyz, as they maintained control of Kid. Susumu & Kid traded strikes, with Susumu coming out on top. Kid came back with a rana and made the tag to Kzy. Dia.HEARTS now taking it to the Jimmyz, as Kid hits an Ibushi-like moonsault from the second turnbuckle to the floor. Exploder from Susumu for two, on Kzy. Jimmyz lock in duel submissions, firmly in control now.
Double gutbuster into a delayed double suplex combo. Huge Susumu lariat stops a Kzy comeback, for two. Kid to his partner’s aid, and he hits K-Ness with an assisted rana from the top rope. Big Kzy frog splash gets broken up at two by Susumu. Susumu and Kzy to the top now. Exploder from the top on Kzy. K-Ness with his series of spinning rollups on Kid, but broken up by Kzy. Finally, Kid gets the Bible (crucifix) for the win. Funny how your typical average DG midcard tag match is still worlds better than any other company’s standard average midcard tag match. While this was standard fare in DG terms, a forgettable match in reality, it would be the most athletic thing on the entire show of most other companies.
VerserK (Shingo Takagi, Yamato & Kotoka) vs. Over Generation (Eita, Punch Tominaga & Takehiro Yamamura)
Again, no Cima, instead the rookie Yamamura. They brawled into the crowd, while back in the ring Shingo took it to the rook, who was in attire similar to Cima. He tagged out to Punch, who locked up with Yamato. Hands in his pockets for power, Punchy hulked up and was impervious to pain. Kotoka in, and Over Generation put the boots to him. Eita went to work on his right leg, which was taped. We’ll see if that plays into their championship match at the big year-end PPV in a week and a half. Punch in. Big kick to the nuts from Kotoka, with the bad leg which he sold heavily. Yamato returned with a big dropkick, and a stroking of his bangs, as VerserK put a whopping on Punch in their corner. Literally beating on Punch for minutes at a time, double teaming and punking him out in general.
VerserK miscommunication led to a tag Eita came in, a house of fire. Huge dive to the outside wiping out VerserK. Yamamura in, but Shingo manhandled the rookie. Yamamura was evasive however and eventually hit a fisherman suplex for a two. This was more competitive than when Punch was in there. Punch back in there with Yamato who he will be wrestling for the tag titles in a week and a half. Yamato remained in control, but finally Punch got an STO for a two count. Triple dropkick put Shingo on the floor and the faces turned their attention to Kotoka.
Some pretty fantastic triple teaming ending with a PT BME. VerserK regained control shortly after though. Alabama Slam on Eita from the champ got two. The rook in there now, gets nailed from the outside with the suitcase, but it’s only a two. Ref distraction and the whole VerserK squad enters the ring to beat the shit out of Yamamura, but Kaito Ishida (dressed as Yamamura) pulls some twin magic behind the ref’s back, replacing his spent stablemate and Over Generation gets a clever upset. Good match, nice finish.
Monster Express (Masato Yoshino, Akira Tozawa, Shachihoko BOY), Naoki Tanizaki & Kenichiro Arai vs. “El Lindaman” Yuga Hayashi, Naruki Doi, Metal Warrior, Super Shisa & Jimmy Kanda
This was a match, once again, randomly picked by young children on the last show, essentially drawing names out of a hat. The irony being Yoshino, Tozawa & Shach all ended up on the same team. Metal Warrior was beaten down by Gamma before the match and dragged to the locker room and replace by Karaoke Machine #1 (Don Fujii in a mask). The match is supposed to lead to odd pairings but the oddest thing here is VerserK members on opposite sides. We start with Yoshino & Doi, which the crowd pops big for. A very nice exchange of moves and countermoves leaves both at a stalemate, and they go at it again. More technical mastery between the two and the crowd pops again. They tag out. Shach & Machine in there now. But he comidically hurts his knee getting in there and tags out. Tozawa and Shisa going at it now, culminating with Tozawa faking a dive to the floor. Too Easy. Fujii in there now, and he takes on the entire opposition 5-on-1 in a chopfest. Now his own team is in there and it’s 9-on-1. Match settles back down into Tozawa & Lindaman, and Tozawa gets his chops in the corner, and proceeds to punch out all five opposing members, and teammate Tanizaki. Yoshino & Lindaman now trading chops. Yoshino killing him with those.
We then get your standard 180 mile an hour rope running exhibition from Yoshino. Tag into Arai, who shushed the crowd, and hits a headbutt with a sickening thud that resonates throughout the building. So unnecessary, poor friggin’ Hayashi. Everybody going at it now with multiple highflying moves to the floor. Everybody gets in on the act. Tozawa, Shach, Yoshino. Finally Machine, but he throws up an airball. Yoshino & Arai with a nice exchange back in the ring leading to a two count off an Arai dicing headbutt, as this thing is all nonstop action. Tozawa senton on Kanda off the top gets two. He goes for the German but it;s reversed. Doi nails him with a cannonball in the corner. Machine with a chokeslam, broken up. Shisa with the code red but Tozawa escapes. Double teaming from Shach & Tanizaki gets two on Shisa. Lindaman wuith a judo throw. Shisa gets the code red but not a theree. Doi attempts a series of double teams with his squad but misses all four. He leaves. Hilarious. Five-on-four now. Tozawa up top. Brainbuster off the top and Lindaman is down.
Quintuple team in the corner on Lindaman, who gets Germaned by Tozawa and tombstoned by Tanizaki. Machine in though, he breaks it up and now all nine men hit consecutive moves on each other in a frenzy you’ll only see in Dragion Gate. Lindaman with the Locomotion suplex series on Shach gets the win. Second year in a row he gets the big pinfall in the final Korakuen match of the year. Super fun match. After the main event, kids are once again brought in to throw darts at a board, selecting teams for a 10-man tag at the next Korakuen show.
Very fun, well paced show. The three hours just flew by. It’s after 4:30 am and I’m late to work, but it was worth it, the mark of a good show.
A rematch of the most watched fight in Japan of modern times was the latest bout confirmed for the debut of the Rizin promotion at the end of the year.
Bob Sapp vs. Akebono, a battle between giants who have not fared well as fighters, was announced today by Nobuhiko Takada during prime time network programming on the Fuji television network. Fuji TV will be airing the Rizin debut on 12/31. It will also be airing on Spike in the U.S.
On December 31, 2003, Sapp vs. Akebono in a kickboxing match drew 54 million television viewers on a night with ridiculous television competition. It was Akebono’s first fight, after being one of the biggest stars in the history of sumo. Sapp was all over television commercials and the biggest television draw among the fighters at the time.
The two have never rematched even though both have had log tenures since that time as pro wrestlers in Japan. They were on opposite sides in an eight-man tag team match at the January 4, 2013 Tokyo Dome show.
Akebono announced on 11/1 that he was leaving All Japan Pro Wrestling, after losing the Triple Crown to Jun Akiyama. It was widely expected he would be on the debut of the Rizin group. He hasn’t fought in nine years. Sapp, who retired as a fighter in 2013, made for the logical opponent.
Inside MMA had reported this match taking place a few weeks ago, but today was the official announcement.
