Furious Flashbacks: All Japan Dream Power Series 2015

AJPW Dream Power Series 2015

 

27^th March 2015.

 

We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Korakuen Hall. Just after winning the belt Go Shiozaki proclaimed his ambition was to sell out Sumo Hall, repeatedly. Bad news for him here then as AJPW only had 874 in attendance at the Korakuen. Not even remotely close to a sell-out even with the most audience-capping venue set up (Wrestle-1 runs a 1,200 capacity, other promotions more like 1,600). That figure must be a massive disappointment to the All Japan office who’d constructed a fine series of matches towards the back end of 2014 allowing the transition from the old era into a new Jun Akiyama one. Highlighted by two wrestlers; Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara. Here they oppose one another, for the Triple Crown, and the building is only half full. It’s borderline depressing. Some of the attendance figures for the Champion Carnival, traditionally one of the most important tournaments in Japan, have been even worse.

 

Part of the problem for Jun Akiyama’s promotion is the sheer number of promotions in Japan. There are promotions that cater to certain tastes. Big Japan have their hardcore division. Dragon Gate the face paced action. DDT the goofy comedy stuff. But everyone else is a less-successful version of New Japan and there aren’t enough fans to run as many promotions as Japan is running. Wrestle-1 have altered their tactics of late, pushing youth and names at the same time, basically doing away with the midcard. NOAH has the NJPW invasion. What does All Japan have to offer? Coherent ongoing booking and decent in-ring? As much as I like watching the promotion, since Akiyama took over, there aren’t enough wrestling fans to sustain this many similar promotions. It’s a worry. Without Wrestle-1’s support I suspect Zero1 would already be gone.  All Japan is too big and too under-supported. I genuinely worry about the future of the promotion. It’s a real pity because the in-ring of late has been good.

 

KENSO vs. Naoya Nomura

 

Apart from KENSO, of course, he’s rubbish. This crowd is embarrassing. There are huge gaps where you can see the bleachers. You’d think they’d at least sell out the camera side. To add insult to injury the music guy screws up KENSO’s entrance, accidentally turning the music down after a few seconds and then turning it back up. Oh good lord, All Japan is dying isn’t it? Nomura is a rookie so he’s not going to get anything out of KENSO. I don’t know why they even bother going through the motions of having a match. KENSO does his slap spot a lot because it’s the only thing he can do without botching horribly. The trouble is, the more he shows the trick (where he slaps his own chest to get the sound) the more obvious it becomes. Nomura tries to show fire before running into bad KENSO spots but it doesn’t work. The only good thing about the match is KENSO being demoted to the opener means he can’t ruin anything further up the card.

 

Final Rating: DUD

 

Zeus & The Bodyguard vs. Kengo Mashimo & Tank Nagai

 

This has potential. Four husky gents with a propensity to smash into each other. It’s like a junior Big Japan main event. Bodyguard vs. Kengo lives up to that hype but Zeus is more interested in picking Tank up or putting him in chinlocks. After the initial burst the pace is never really there. Instead the match relies on structure and generally that means heat with the odd fun spot scattered in; like Kengo getting an armbar on both of Big Guns. Zeus’ presence is really strong here. He knows when to insert big power spots and when to suddenly stop selling to hit something. He’d make a great babyface powerhouse. If he was taller Vince McMahon would totally come calling. Unfortunately for him he’s 5’ 11”. Bodyguard and Zeus do a lot of raw power stuff and try to batter their way through the match only to find Tank resilient and Kengo inventive. Kengo is the big threat as he’s focused in his offence and capable of creating a submission situation. He eventually gets Bodyguard isolated, counters out of a big kick by grabbing the leg and gets the submission. Solid and competent but not thrilling in any way.

 

Final Rating: **3/4

 

Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Masanobu Fuchi & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Takao Omori, SUSHI, Ryuji Hijikata & Yohei Nakajima

 

This is one of those wacky multi-man tags that Akiyama has introduced to AJPW with great success. His team features a veteran junior, a really old guy and a wrestler with 4 months experience. His opponents are his tag team partner, a masked junior with a plate of fish on his head, a no nonsense journeyman and a guy who recently unmasked and stopped wearing all pink to get taken seriously only to get treated like a jobber still. I love that Nakajima gets paired up with Aoyagi, a guy he can finally look superior to, as if he’s also a rookie. He used to wear a mask, he’s worked here for years!

 

SUSHI is the focus of the match and he’s decided to become a comedy wrestler now, continually adjusting his mask and missing stuff. Akiyama takes exceptional to this tomfoolery and kicks his ass. At times some of AJPW’s matches look like a rib on Akiyama only he books them. He must have a better sense of humour than his grizzled exterior suggests. They run a funny series of spots where everyone slams SUSHI over and over again apart from Fuchi, who never gets tagged in. The funny part being it’s basically Fuchi’s trademark move. He barely does anything else nowadays. Hot tag to Omori and Fuchi comes in to slam him! Omori then nails him with the Axe Bomber for the win. This was an amusing aside but nowhere near as much fun as the recent Akiyama midcard tags.

 

Final Rating: **1/2

 

Evolution (Suwama, Joe Doering & Hikaru Sato) vs. Akebono, Yutaka Yoshie & Keisuke Ishii

 

Akiyama is once again the prankster here, sticking the tiny Ishii with the massive Akebono and Yoshie. He looks like a midget but he’s here to offset fellow junior Sato. Ishii is quick but Sato is technically sound. The rest are knockers of the slobber. They run through the pairings and it’s clear that Akebono is the most over but the least mobile. Life isn’t fair. Unlike past tags utilising the best of Akebono and Yoshie, this one has them in for too long and shows their glaring weakness as fat, slow workers. Frankly the match is tedious. Most of the match is Joe Doering teasing that he might slam one of the two big men. I don’t care if he does, which is the biggest problem the match has. Even if it delivers what it promises, it won’t be any good. The match only picks up when the juniors tag in and Ishii looks like he has a point to prove. However it’s Sato that looks like a star, catching a flying kick right into the anklelock. It’s a shame these guys have spent most of the match watching from the apron. Sato even does a passable job of carrying Yoshie before they break out the multiple person stuff with Ishii’s speed compensating for all the big splashes around him. Yoshie ends up splashing Sato off the ropes for the win. This was disappointing. Very dull for the most part. A lot of these wrestlers are dull workers, unless paired with something more entertaining. The likes of Akebono and Yoshie have been great in cameos in Akiyama’s 6-man matches. Here? Not so good.

 

Final Rating: **

 

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship:

Atsushi Aoki (c) vs. Kotaro Suzuki

 

All Japan’s junior division is basically these two guys. It seems to come down to Aoki vs. Suzuki when all other ideas have been exhausted, which seems to happen quite frequently. Given the undercard it’s up to them to set the plate for the main event too. It might be a small crowd but it’s one that needs engaging. The streamers ahead of the match are a good sign but the pacing is pedestrian, in an attempt to build slowly to a big finish. Aoki is content to control the match and let Kotaro do his silly comeback spots. A handspring back elbow should only work with an appropriate set up, especially if the opponent knows your move-set from frequent previous contests. Same goes for the 619. Why is Aoki just taking all this shit? Surely as a grappling specialist he should have prepared counters. The match comes across as lazy and familiar because of these issues. It’s Kotaro who looks better prepared, often countering submission holds into near falls. Aoki, by contrast, looks like he can’t be bothered. It’s a really poor showing from him. Unless he’s deliberately decided to look weak so Kotaro’s title victory looks like a dominating display. Even Aoki’s counters down the stretch look uninspired and Kotaro has to drive the match forward with his strikes and bumps. They have a few big spots lined up still, including a super rana and a bizarre and extremely complicated hip toss off the top rope. This gets the crowd heated and Kotaro kicks out of everything Aoki has in a 90 second spell. With a bit of selling they could have spread this out a bit and cut some of the duller stuff at the start of the match. The crowd seem to dig it. Kotaro has one last trick up his sleeve as an elbow combo delivers, Aoki covers up and Suzuki drills him with a final elbow to the midsection. This opens Aoki up and he’s floored for the title loss. My disappointment with Aoki’s first half of the match aside, this did deliver some good thrills and spills. I still think AJPW’s junior division is behind the rest of Japan (even Wrestle-1 has a better division) and compared to those promotions this is merely ok, not the home run they were hoping for.

 

Final Rating: ***1/4

 

Triple Crown Championship:

Go Shiozaki (c) vs. Kento Miyahara

 

Now the pressure is really on the young guns of AJPW’s main event scene. Not only has this match generated minimal interest in the fan base, resulting in a poor attendance, but the undercard has been so weak that the entire event’s success or failure rests on their match. No pressure, guys! They wisely start at a frenetic pace to differentiate themselves from the last match and it gets the crowd going to see two youngsters going at it for a major title. Certainly those who did show up for this really want to see it. It makes the poor house numbers even more confusing. Go’s chops in particular get people going and the one commentator lets out a heartfelt “OOF” when one of them connects. That’s Japanese for “fuck me, that was stiff”. Kento is out to make an impact and he gets a large chunk of the early going, including a piledriver on the floor that leaves Shiozaki down holding his shoulder. A major complaint about Go Shiozaki was his selling but that’s certainly fixed here. Not only does he have to be picked up for the match to continue but his shoulder problem causes issues for his stiff offensive strikes. If Shiozaki is to carry this company forwards, and there are few other options, then being that good at selling is essential. Challengers must come away from their title shots looking better than when they came in. Miyahara benefits not only from Shiozaki’s selling but also surviving the absolute thrashing that Go dishes out when he’s feeling healthy. It’s vicious. Poor Kento is sent flying into the rails before being spiked with a DDT on the floor and that’s not even mentioning the strikes that Go litters around his bigger spots.

 

Most importantly there’s real urgency to the match. As if every moment could potentially be the conclusion. The next spot might get the 3 count. It’s a vibe I used to get from classic 80s and 90s AJPW where they’d start teasing finishes after 15 minutes and then wrestle for another 20-30 minutes, keeping the audience on the edge of its seat. This match is nowhere near that long but they get that same atmosphere. It’s a real pity the building is half empty. If Shiozaki’s selling was good, then Miyahara’s is even better as he takes an epic beating off Shiozaki, getting chopped around the throat every few seconds and being dumped on his skull with alarming regularity. Like the good underdog he is, and his matches with the likes of Jun Akiyama in late 2014 will testify to that, Miyahara won’t stay down and keeps looking for that one spot that will get him back in the match. In this case his finish, the German suplex, off the apron. This leads to a lot of teasing regarding a potential title change. The real thrill I get from this match is the sense that it’s a legitimate contest. At one point Go chases a lariat while Miyahara throws a high knee. It’s the knee that connects first, just ahead of the lariat, and Go drops face first into the canvas. You don’t get organic spots like that. Look at Aoki vs. Kotaro, where one man would inevitably just stand there waiting to get hit with a spot. This is on a different level to that.

 

A case in point is Shiozaki running through spots only for his Go Flasher to be countered right into a vertical drop brainbuster. The momentum changes in this match are sensationally well done. Another example follows just moments later where Kento leaves too much space before hitting a running knee and gets clocked with a lariat. It’s brilliant back and forth wrestling and it all makes sense. This could truly be the feud that puts AJPW back on the map. At least it should do, where are the audience? Miyahara does splendid work down the stretch where he looks beaten with every spot Go hits only to desperately throw a shoulder up at the last second. He survives a real battering until Go connects with a lariat so large there’s no kicking out. It didn’t quite have the feeling of an all-time classic and needed a better finish but this was fucking great to watch. Head and shoulders above the rest of the card and a strong contender for AJPW MOTY.

 

Final Rating: ****1/2

 

 

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6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

The undercard is massively underwhelming, in ways I thought weren’t possible by a recovering AJPW. However the main event is so strong, so goddamn ballsy that it takes me back to the AJPW main events of the promotion’s heyday. The selling, the strikes, the brutality, the determination, the showmanship. It was all there. The match left me buzzing and eager to see more. Shiozaki & Miyahara are the future and the present of All Japan. If only they can get a crowd to watch them in action.