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Iron Cage Death Match: Kazumi Kikuta & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto)
This was really good. Some parts didn’t work but it was a quality mix of good pure and death match wrestling with a stip built around it. The cage could’ve been a bad addition to the match but it didn’t seem to throw off anyone and was used for drama and then the finish which I thought was a good use of it. There was a strike exchange between Kodaka and Ishikwawa that was hit and miss but Kodaka sparked Ishikawa in the face and that was cool to see. Miyamoto jumped off the cage twice, once onto the ropes (balls first) and again with a knee drop to win. ***1/2
BJW Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Kota Sekifuda (c) vs. Kaji Tomato
I liked this as a catch all styles Junior contest. Sekifuda is really good at pumping out these kinds of matches but it just didn’t hook me like other title defences of his. ***
BJW Tag Team Title Match: Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) (c) vs. Hiroyuki Suzuki & Takuho Kato
I’m glad that the Strong Division has a future containing Hiroyuki Suzuki and Takuho Kato because they were really impressive in the match in capturing that same energy that Strong BJ do, and that’s a hard task. The only hope is that Big Japan sort of grows in popularity once more for these guys, including Astronauts, to flourish. Great heavyweight style strikes and throws against great technical styled strikes and submissions. That was the main story of the match. Nomura and Abe are the seniors of the match so they had a nasty streak in them, especially Nomura who would slap the piss out of Kato and practically try to break the arm. It made for a great match with really promising performances by the challengers and great performances from the champions, who are one of the best teams today. ****
BJW World Strong Heavyweight Title Match: Yuji Okabayashi (c) vs. Yuya Aoki
I don’t want to say that this was a torch being passed because we’ve been there with Kamitani before, and Nomura and Okabyashi is till the guy to beat in Big Japan (strong division) but it’s a hell of a rub with this being Yuya Aoki’s second title match for this belt, first against Okabayashi. Plus the match plays out in a way where Aoki looks great, not only in quality but in optics. The first main portion of the match was Aoki using his smarts, doing some wise, skillful counters and even slapping, kicking and chopping Okabayashi and not looking like the underdog everyone thought. Okabayashi did his thing, of course, but he was focused on making Aoki come across as a worthy future champion and he took some big bumps. Like Aoki drop kicking him off the top rope and Okabayashi flying to the floor. The match in the third had some no-selling spots. Yuck but the story remained; Aoki would not be denied. Okabayashi hit Aoki with some HUGE bombs and Aoki was simply better and the match reflected it and it sets it apart from other great matches where the match is great but the one supposed to be put over isn’t actually booked to be the best in the match, just the winner. This is all about Aoki and it’s a standard for getting someone on a level. The crowd didn’t chant Okabayashi once throughout the match. It was Aoki’s night. The closing stretch does a really good job at making it an open field and making Aoki truly earn it. He did the rest and had to withstand everyone Okabayashi threw at him, even at the expense of his own knee after he put it up to block Okabayashi’s splash, which is fantastic selling by the way. ****1/4
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