ALL OUT (Akito & Shunma Katsumata) vs DAMNATION (Mad Paulie & Tetsuya Endo) vs Nautilus (Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ueno) vs Yukio Naya & Yukio Sakaguchi
This was a hell of an opener for the show. There was a ton of fluid tag offence in this and they were able to keep 4 guys in the match at once without it becoming messy. Ueno and Endo had an awesome exchange where they’d counter each other using their athleticism and it leads into the next spot really well. ***
DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title Gauntlet Battle Royal: Kazuki Hirata (c) vs ASUKA vs Hiroshi Yamato vs Michiaki Nakano vs Mizuki Watase vs Toru Owashi
There was a great running joke that Michiaki Nakano (a sponsor from Peter Pan who wanted to wrestle a match) paying all the wrestlers 10,000 yen to help him win and attack Hirata. ASUKA even hustled more money out of him which was funny. And the only one willing to save him was took his time getting of the ring and then turned on him once he was told Nakano bought all his (Owashi’s) merch. Then the classic Japananse Samurai standoff between Hirata and the rest was awesome. Fun battle royal. ***1/2
*DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title Match: Kazuki Hirata (c) vs Michiaki Nakano
Nakano hits the rainmaker, gets a one count. Oishi nails Hirata with a title shot and helps Nakano win the title!!!
*DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title Match: Michiaki Nakano (c) vs Makoto Oishi
DOUBLE CROSS. OISHI ROLLS NAKANO UP. NEW CHAMP.
Danshoku Dino & Super Sasadango Machine vs Keigo Nakamura & Shinya Aoki
Nakamura really showed some promise. Him leading Shinya Aoki through strategy and being the leader was funny. Dino and Sasadango did their spots. Sasadango getting the better of Aoki was awesome though. **1/2
Saki Akai Okibariyasu Seven Match Trial Series Match #1: Saki Akai vs Tsukasa Fujimoto
Both were out to impress and stepped up some of the things they (More Saki Akai) were willing to do. Fujimoto was good as she usually is and pulled off some crafty moves. Akai had a wicked kick to the head of Fujimoto. Fujimoto did some of Akai’s own offence against her. A fun competitive match. A good way to kick off a trial series. ***
Antonio Honda & Miyu Yamashita vs Jiro ‘Ikemen’ Kuroshio & Konosuke Takeshita
This was awesome. Honda & Yamashita shine as a team yet again. The comedy bits with Honda telling his Gon The Fox story but not telling the dirty jokes due to Miyu being present was great and got a big pop. But Miyu really shined in this match, even with comedy. Her arguing over who is uglier with Ikemen, throwing out her awe-inspiring kicks with Takeshita. A strong performance by her. Takeshita and Ikemen were great teaming together. They showed some great chemistry as a team but worked well with Honda and Miyu. Ikemen and Honda’s nipple based offence was a great highlight of the match and Takeshita was great whenever he was in the match. His exchange with Honda was excellent towards the end. ***3/4
KO-D Tag Team Title Match: DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Soma Takao) (c) vs Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi
One of DAMANATION’s weaker title defences, I thought. The story of the match was basically DAMANATION teasing a break up, which meant that most of their offence was double team moves that backfired meaning they either hit each other or came close. It’s a fine match for a house show but it didn’t translate to a bigger show like this, in my opinion. Takanashi and Brookes were okay but they didn’t make the match better on their side either. The finish with Takao rolling Brookes up until he got the pin was good though. **3/4
KO-D Openweight Title Match: HARASHIMA vs Yuki Ino
Awesome main event. A battle of power vs technique. For someone as inexperienced as Ino is, he really stepped up when he needed to. Ino had some awesome moves in the match. Most of which are rugby based like the Haka elbow and the running tackle to a seated opponent. And he brought that extra step of intensity when needed. His slap exchanges with HARASHIMA for the finish was awesome. Ino wasn’t afraid to take some bumps as well, running flat into the corner post after HARASHIMA moved out of the way of his attempted tackle. HARASHIMA sold really well for Ino, making him a big threat in the match, constantly scrambling to get out of Ino’s control or trying to set up Ino in traps for him to capitalise on. A hard fought match. ***3/4
Another fun Korakuen Hall show. The main event was really good with HARASHIMA and Ino having a fun battle of power and technique. The Tag team title match was a bit disappointing and didn’t hook me in the way that I wanted it to. The story just wasn’t interesting. Honda/Yamashita vs Ikemen/Takeshita strike was a very good tag team match - tons of comedy and serious wrestling to enjoy. Miyu Yamashita in particular stood out in the match. Tsukka vs Saki Akai was solid. Dino/Sasadango vs Aoki/Nakamura was a fun short match. Nakamura showed promise. The Ironman heavy metal title matches all were awesome. Nakano paying off his opponents never got old. Lmao. And the opener was a fun tag match with fluid wrestling. BEST TO WORST: Honda/Yamashita vs Ikemen/Takeshita - [***3/4]. HARASHIMA vs Ino - [***3/4]. Ironman title Battle Royal - [***1/2]. The opener - [***]. Tsukka vs Saki Akai - [***]. DAMNATION vs Brookes/Takanashi - [**3/4]. Dino/Sasadango vs Aoki/Nakamura - [**1/2].
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