Yuma Aoyagi vs Konosuke Takeshita
I’ve long been a critic of Aoyagi, who I didn’t think was very good in a singles capacity when I was deep into watching All Japan. But he has improved recently, and this might be the most I’ve enjoyed him yet. He played the villain really well. And yet, he wasn’t reprehensible either. He was rather mocking and playful in his role. He was able to find a big Takeshita fan in the crowd and kept messing with her, pointing to her while he inflicted pain on Takeshita. His general crowd control was immense too. The crowd was into this and reacted all the way. The match was well paced with Aoyagi implementing measured pacing to allow the character work and the meat and potatoes of the match to mix well. The pacing allowed Takeshita’s explosive offence to blossom as well. The match let everything breathe while still keeping everything moving. To me, this was a great example of how not to blow your load while giving everything you can. This is a very professional match. Takeshita shined in his role, working to the comeback, getting the crowd to rally behind his rise. Long are the days when the crowd gave him nothing but indifference in this role. The peak of the match came in the closing stretch where they were able to get some terrific nearfalls in the mix. This was great. I can’t praise it enough. ****
KO-D Openweight Title Match: Yuki Ueno (c) vs HARASHIMA
I just had to watch this match. HARASHIMA is far and away my favourite DDT wrestler and him challenging for the title instantly hooked me in. The match wasn’t the best that he had to offer, but I thought the match was good and so was he. Some of the overall structure of the match let the match down but essentials were good and delivered. HARASHIMA did some good work on the gut and ribs of Ueno, as brief as it was. Ueno did some good moves and brought his end as champion into the match well. There was a great moment where HARASHIMA was looking for his Somota knee strike and Ueno caught him in mid motion and locked on the rear naked choke, something he had previously used to beat HARASHIMA. The story aspects were a successful part of the match, bringing the drama of the bout to the fullest. However the tedious Koreakuen Hall tropes such as going up into the crowd and the odd reliance on working on the outside stood out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the match. That along with a sluggish pace meant the match wasn’t as great as it could’ve been. Ueno retained the title and looked good thanks to HARASHIMA doing his part in making him look so, but this wasn’t a great match which you’d expect at one of DDT’s biggest shows. ***1/2
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