wrestling / Video Reviews

Furious Flashbacks: Fortune Dream #2

January 31, 2015 | Posted by Arnold Furious
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Furious Flashbacks: Fortune Dream #2  

Fortune Dream #2

 

10th December (Aired 20th December on Nippon TV) 2014.

 

For those missed Fortune Dream #1, the promotion is the child of Kenta Kobashi. He basically books the Korakuen every now and again and throws on a show, comprised of wrestlers from all the promotions he’s friendly with. Seeing as this is Kobashi, it’s pretty much all of them. For Fortune Dream #2 he’s cast his net wide and features talent from All Japan (Doering, Miyahara, Kanemaru), NOAH (Sugiura, Nakajima, Haste), Dragon Gate (Shingo, Mochizuki), Big Japan (Kanemoto, Sekimoto, Shuji Ishikawa), Zero1 (Kohei Sato), K-Dojo (Yuji Hino) and his old buddies like Takuma Sano. The only promotion he can’t seem to secure people from is New Japan. Otherwise Fortune Dream really is a ‘dream’ promotion because it gets together guys who are admired across Japan and pits them against each other in combat. The first show was wonderful and featured a main event with Hino & Sekimoto chopping the bejesus out of each other. It was one of the year’s highlights. And now…Fortune Dream #2.

 

We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Korakuen Hall. 1,600 in attendance and that phenomenal purple ring canvas makes a welcome return.

 

Hayato Mashita vs. Minoru Tanaka

 

Tanaka is from Wrestle-1. He joined with the Muta rebels. Mashita is from Real Japan, which makes him a Sayama trainee. I’ve seen him before and if you search 411, I’m the only person to have reviewed one of his matches. He’s a lot better now than he was 4 years ago and sticks to his strengths. This is basically a lot of kick duels. What’s really pleasing, watching this after NOAH’s big Colosseum show is the rowdy crowd, easily baited into yelling stuff by the participants. Mashita is largely outclassed by Tanaka, due to his big league inexperience, and taps out to an armbar in under 7 minutes. Interesting to note that after an opening strike-fest Tanaka specifically worked the arm to get the submission. Mashita looks inconsolable after tapping out. It’s still real to him, damn it. Incidentally he’s now 0-2 at Fortune Dream after jobbing to Tamon Honda at the first one.

 

Final Rating: **

 

Meiko Satomura vs. Kairi Hojo

 

Satomura jobbed to the frankly inferior Hiroyo Matsumoto on the first Fortune Dream so she’s been booked again by way of an apology. Her opponent is from Stardom, a spunky 26 year old who looks thrilled to be here. I still love Satomura’s music. “Yesterday’s heroes will fight another day. Rock your liiife awaaaaaay”. Meiko is in a ‘taking no shit’ mood, presumably after her humbling defeat first time out. Hojo gets some serious crowd love for her rallying chops on Satomura and backing a legend down in the corner gets her major support. The costume choices interest me here because Satomura wears red and Hojo white but they both have vaguely military designs, making the match feel like some sort of war or possibly a battle between two rival karate schools. As for the action, it’s exciting and Hojo wins me over quite easily. Mainly because she does one of the most careless, outta control, Savage Elbow drops you’ll ever see. It looks like she’s been shot out of a cannon. She also works a Sharpshooter so high and leans so far back on it that she falls over. So there’s that, too. Meiko isn’t best pleased and kicks the shit out of the poor girl. One high kick in particular looks like a knock out. She just kicks that spunky attitude right out of her. Hojo’s biggest flaw is her desperation kick-outs, which are AWFUL. She tries to roll the shoulder but it’s way late and looks like she didn’t kick out at all. Meiko puts her away with the Death Valley Bomb. Hojo is sloppy and really rough around the edges but damn it, this was fun.

 

Final Rating: **3/4

 

Koji Kanemoto & Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

 

Oh, shit! Look at this fucking line-up! Easily the worst wrestler in the ring is Kazuki Hashimoto, who’s had a break-out year and a few excellent tag matches of late where he’s kept up with bigger and better talent. Kazuki actually opposed Kanemaru at Fortune Dream #1 in 6-man action. This is far more meaningful. Having Mochizuki here is a real steal as Dragon Gate are arguably the most popular promotion in Japan, outside of NJPW. Kanemoto vs. Mochizuki is amazing. The vibe they create without even touching is followed by a mass of high kicks. The encounters have an intensity about them, which you’d expect from two of the most aggressive workers in Japan. Kanemoto keeps kicking Kanemaru off the apron and he does it one time too many and really pisses off the AJPW junior. Now there’s intensity there too! Basically, Kanemoto is a dick. He’s *the* dick. Nobody is more of a dick than he. Mochizuki has a go at matching him, at poor Kazuki’s expense, and starts working his upper inner thigh. It’s a tricky area to work, you get your kick slightly off and wham, right in the plums. This pisses Kanemoto off to the point where he charges in and grapples Mochizuki clean out of the ring.

 

Poor Kazuki gets his ass beat by Mochizuki for that and between Mochi and Kanemaru, they dish out a tonne of abuse to the chubby youngster. It’s a brilliant match as each man tries to one-up the others with sly kicks to the back of the head or general dickishness. Kanemaru adds in an extra dimension by not just being a dick but also showing off and throwing in stuff like the split legged moonsault for his own amusement. He tries to instigate stereo boot scrapes, which are blocked (by the boot scraping experts) and then stolen. Faces washed! With boots! It’s at this point that Kazuki starts to show his worth and he stands up to Mochizuki. This gets him kicked, really hard, but it was worth it. He even attempts to no-sell Mochi, which gets him kicked harder. They give up on tags at this point and just start wailing on each other, in particular Mochizuki mounting Kazuki for punches, MMA style. The ref can’t sort them out but it doesn’t matter because the time limit expires at 20.00. This was a lot of fun. It was a bit lacking in anger and resentment but these are four guys worth watching. Kanemoto’s laughing “this guy, this guy right here” point at Mochizuki after the match reveals a lack of hatred. Everyone’s cool with each other. I’d love to see this match with some genuine resentment attached to it.

 

Final Rating: ****

 

Shane Haste & Quiet Storm vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Tank Nagai

 

This is a bit of a comedown after the last match but it’s also a strange one as Haste is booked but to tag with Storm and not Mikey Nicholls? They’re representing NOAH anyway. Shuji is from Big Japan and Tank from K-Dojo. They were on opposing sides at Fortune Dream #1. It’s perhaps a hint of the outcome here as Tank won by teaming with K-Dojo buddy Kengo Mashimo. Having that same promotional ideology coming in gave them the edge. It is rather hard to look past Shuji Ishikawa though, because he’s a monster and Tank is build like a…tank. Haste immediately shows us how by avoiding Shuji on the ropes and following with an insane outta control tope. Storm brings his circus freak physique to the dance and the outcome is less clear. Especially with Shane Haste looking to prove himself the biggest star in this match. The match flies by with Tank Nagai being adept at taking a beating and Shuji happy to throw around the gaijin. Haste has a counter for him though; continually throwing himself at the big man with reckless abandon. Every move seems completely unnecessary and out of control. It’s a wonderful display of a man without fear. He’s not worried about taking knocks either and Shuji knees the shit out of him. Haste’s internal organs must have been rearranged with each one. The biggest shock of this match is Quiet Storm going to the well and BATTERING Shuji Ishikawa with a monster lariat. Shuji’s bump is magnificent and makes it look like one of the best spots of the year. Haste picks off Nagai with a sit-out powerbomb and the NOAH contingent picks up the win. This match was a surprise as everyone turned up totally energised and excitable. Haste was fantastic. He has show stealing turns in him.

 

Final Rating: ***1/4

 

Talk Battle:

Kenta Kobashi vs. Genichiro Tenryu

 

A staple of these Kobashi shows is a sit down chat with another legend of wrestling where they debate their profession. Someone needs to translate them because the fans chuckle throughout. What gets me about Tenryu is the guy still wrestles but he can barely get to the ring under his own steam! I love how the moderator shuts Tenryu down for talking before the bell has rung. This is Kobashi’s ring! As per usual they natter for 30 minutes and call it a ‘draw’.

 

Final Rating: N/R

 

Kohei Sato, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Takuma Sano vs. Takashi Sugiura, Daisuke Sekimoto & Shiro Koshinaka

 

Koshinaka is now 56 and hasn’t wrestled regularly since leaving NJPW. He’s probably here to offset Sano, who only wrestles a handful of matches a year for NOAH nowadays. Sato & Sekimoto were in the main event of the last show. Kobashi has taken a slightly different tack here but they certainly earned the right to come back. I love Sekimoto having to calm Koshinaka down. As if failure to get him out of the ring would result in a Shiro rampage. So it’s Sekimoto vs. Sato to begin with memories of Fortune Dream #1 bouncing around the consciousness of the viewers. They do a little strike duel to remind us of that before Sato just floors Sekimoto with a big elbow. Sekimoto’s selling is exemplary for a big man. They run through the possible combinations and everyone seems excited to wail on their opponents. Both Sano and Koshinaka look capable of matching the full-timers. Sugiura-Nakajima, a match NOAH has whenever they like, seems particularly aggressive. Nakajima & Sato have a contest to see who can kick Sekimoto the hardest. It’s mean but enormously entertaining. Kohei Sato is a scary man because he makes Sekimoto look like nothing at times and Sekimoto bullies everyone in NOAH. Everyone. They do throw in a little comedy here with Koshinaka going on a butt-butt rampage before going back to guys wailing on each other. Nakajima throwing kicks like they’re going out of style and Sugiura selling them like Nakajima is the Man. The only thing stranger than Sugiura getting his ass kicked throughout this is Sekimoto getting his ass kicked throughout this! Sano is the weak link from the other team and he’s eventually picked off by Sekimoto for the deadweight German suplex and that gets it done. This match had some extraordinary selling and severe beatdowns for top guys.

 

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

Yuji Hino & Kento Miyahara vs. Joe Doering & Shingo Takagi

 

Hino and Miyahara were in the main event of Fortune Dream #1 but on opposing sides. Both Doering, from All Japan (the Triple Crown champ no less) and Shingo, from Dragon Gate, are making their Fortune Dream debuts. The weird thing about seeing Shingo compete outside Dragon Gate is how small he looks. Because everyone in Dragon Gate is tiny he can look like a bully. Here Miyahara towers over him and nobody thinks of Miyahara as being tough. Same with Hino, to a lesser extent, as he’s under 6’ and Doering towers over him at 6’ 5”. Hino even has trouble figuring out the height difference before realising it’s a challenge! You know what that means…CHOP DUEL TIME! Hino has to jump to compete on anything else. It’s almost as fun as Hino vs. Sekimoto at Fortune Dream #1. Almost. Doering isn’t quite as much fun as the other guys and takes a more methodical approach to things. Instead the fun comes from Hino vs. Shingo as they start showing each other the middle finger ahead of moves and there’s a sense they’re not getting along. Shingo turns into a cowardly stooge for Joe and you really want to see him get beaten up. The match turns into a back and forth strike-fest, which would be fine if it wasn’t the third such match on the card. They do have some nice touches like Hino chopping Shingo and Shingo immediately looking for a tag only for Doering to tell him to man up and the CHOP DUEL beginning in earnest. Largely with Hino no-selling and Shingo looking scared of the bigger world he’s just walked into. They have an interesting story with Miyahara looking to get one over on Doering too, as he’s Triple Crown Champion and Miyahara wants another shot. Miyahara has some nice counters, like slipping over the top on a powerbomb into a sunset flip. Doering has too much power for him but anyone can get caught with a flash pin. Miyahara takes too much abuse though and Doering finishes him with the Spiralbomb. Another entertaining main event from Fortune Dream. Again it was Hino who stole the show, through a lot of showboating, but Shingo was amusing and everyone played their role well.

 

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

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7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
There was no stunning main event like at the last Fortune Dream but four really good tag matches highlighted an entertaining show. As long as Kobashi keeps booking these I’ll keep watching. They’re tremendous fun. Keeping the card down to 6 matches produces a lot of consistency too. There was a slight feeling this didn’t live up to the first show. Mainly because the main event on that first show was downright epic (I had it at ****3/4). However the consistency here made it worthwhile. Thumbs up again, Kenta!
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