wrestling / Video Reviews
Puro Fury: AJPW Super Power Series 2016
Loading...AJPW Super Power Series 2016
May 25 2016
I enjoyed the Champion Carnival so very much that I’m back with more All Japan action. We’re in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and this is Sekimoto’s big title match with Miyahara. Let’s get to it! Before we get underway we have cheerleaders singing and Suwama putting over some future developmental shows as All Japan follows WWE, New Japan, DDT, PROGRESS etc in having a showcase show for their kids. Considering how much they desperately need kids to come through in AJPW, far more than any of those other places, even PROGRESS, it’s overdue but I’m glad it’s happening.
Atsushi Maruyama, Koji Iwamoto & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Osamu Nishimura, Ryuji Hijikata & SUSHI
Unfortunately we then segue straight into the opening match, which is a mixture of old timers (Fuchi and Nishimura being older than dirt) and flippity young guys. If you like watching Fuchi scoop slam people in slow motion this match is for you. Otherwise, move along. Fuchi makes poor SUSHI fall off the ropes and Maruyama pins him.
Final Rating: *
Kengo Mashimo vs. Jake Lee
Jake is on a steep learning curve and K-Dojo badass Kengo is here to teach him a lesson. Jake reminds me of Kohei Sato when he was younger, less interesting and lacking in charisma. He backs that up with a tonne of leg kicks here. Kengo doesn’t let him get away with that shit and gets all fired up. Jake looks good in this one, maybe better than he has in any singles match beforehand. The match has the odd moment where Lee’s inexperience counts against him and he tumbles over selling his arm and it’s all so awkward. Kengo ends up tearing Lee’s arm out of the socket and beating him to death with it…figuratively. Lee is making big steps towards competency, this is big, big news for All Japan long-run. Jake Lee is a huge potential star for them.
Final Rating: **3/4
Evolution (Hikaru Sato & Naoya Nomura) vs. Ryouji Sai & Shuji Ishikawa
Young boy Nomura is under the tutelage of mat maestro Sato but they’re up against two bad ass motherfuckers in Sai and massive Ishikawa. The two badasses kick seven shades of shit out of Nomura with the poor kid taking an epic shoeing. To the point where it’s unfeasible that this goes the allotted 13 minutes. His plucky comebacks allow Sato to come in and run a big brother routine, where he shows Nomura how it’s done, throwing Sai around for fun. Having Nomura come after Shuji is perhaps stretching the limits of credulity but he looks goddamn ballsy for doing so. When he hits a spear on Shuji there’s a moment where the crowd think he’s winning. It’s beautiful the way Japanese underdogs come close to getting the big win. Naturally Shuji just kills him after that spot and the bigger duo take it. Terrific work from underneath from the smaller guys though.
Final Rating: ***
Axe Bombers (Isami Kodaka, Takao Omori, Kazuhiro Tamura & Yuko Miyamoto) vs. AJ Rangers
The “All Japan Rangers” are Jun Akiyama, Shigehiro Irie, Yohei Nakajima and Yuma Aoyagi. They’re all masked. Akiyama has a big silver important mask whereas the others are his helpers. Kodaka and Miyamoto are the All Asia tag team champions and essentially outsiders from DDT/Big Japan. This is All Japan standing up to them. The importance of this match is not as high as you’d think and it’s barely eight minutes long, filler before the big three mains. I’m not sure I dig Omori vs. Akiyama either, seeing as they were such good buddies. HEAT Up worker Tamura gets the fluke pin with a roll up on Yohei, after a big Irie miscue. This was total filler.
Final Rating: **1/4
Yuji Okabayashi vs. Zeus
A year ago I would not have cared about this at all but Zeus has improved so, so much and Okabayashi will not want to be upstaged, even in a foreign promotion to him. He’s a man that wears the Big Japan belt to the ring. He’s representing that company as their top star and he’s not going to let musclehead Zeus get one over on him. The tests of strength and old school 80s nonsense in this are so well done. They look like they’re legitimately testing each other and then they go full out on chopping the absolute shit out of those big old chests. Zeus does some pretty dumb power spots until Okabayashi overpowers him with better spots. The way they light each other up with the chops is tremendous. Eventually Okabayashi just has too much power, too many chops and a powerbomb sets up the Golem Splash. Good showing from Zeus but Okabayashi is the master of this kind of match, a violent chop-fest. Okabayashi is always good to watch if you dig this kind of style and Zeus is so much better than he used to be. Almost four snowflakes.
Final Rating: ***3/4
AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship
Atsushi Aoki (c) vs. Masashi Takeda
Takeda is from Big Japan so this is another AJPW vs. outsider storyline that seems to be working for them. Takeda has blue hair to mess with Aoki’s head (All Japan’s company colours being red). Takeda works garbage matches for Big Japan mostly but he’s a pretty talented junior heavy. Aoki is perfectly willing to let Takeda get over while trying to put the garbage wrestler in his place. Takeda’s response is to suplex Aoki off the apron. Aoki is either hurt during that spot or he’s great at selling. What is true is he’s got a huge bruise on his hip and that cannot have been a nice spot to take. The issue I take with All Japan’s junior division is that the global success of cruiserweight wrestling is far above what they’re doing. No AJPW junior match is creeping over four stars any time soon. Even going on second last. Takeda isn’t used to this environment and he puts weird pauses in where he’s usually selling the impact of a light tube across the face. Aoki picks him apart when Takeda isn’t getting flash pins, and takes it with an armbar. This was ok but Takeda isn’t in Aoki’s league and he got showed up here.
Final Rating: ***1/4
Triple Crown Championship
Kento Miyahara (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
Sekimoto beat Miyahara on route to winning the Champion Carnival. That’s all you need to know in terms of set up. There’s a handy contrast between the veteran Sekimoto, who is in the midst of having a Hall of Fame career as a phenomenal constantly achieving super heavyweight, and Miyahara, the youngster who’s found himself in the position of All Japan Ace because they’ve got no one else. Miyahara is out to prove himself, knowing full well that Sekimoto will destroy him given half a chance, and Kento kills it on the floor with viciousness. Sekimoto’s retort is to DDT the champ off the rail and Kento spikes it. He’s out to prove he’s not only the boss but he can take the sick bumps that come with being Triple Crown champion. The match suffers from being a lot longer than their Champion Carnival match. They go for bigger spots with bigger selling and it slows everything down. It’s a pity they can’t keep the pacing of that shorter match up. It does have the feeling of a big match, which almost every Sekimoto match does, although there’s a concern that Kento doesn’t bring the fire like he did at Champion Carnival. When he does fire up and go flat out at Sekimoto the match comes to life. When they’re battering each other with lumber it’s a fucking great match. Kento looks great in surviving a stream of abuse from Sekimoto and the knee strikes he pulls out are sensational. I feel bad for Sekimoto taking some of them, they’re absolutely brutal. One near the end looks to have closed Sekimoto’s eye. It’s fantastically harsh. Sekimoto’s amazing death sell on it sets up Miyahara hauling him up and hitting the straightjacket German suplex to retain.
Final Rating: ****1/4
