After being on hiatus for about a month, AJPW returns to having fan attended events!
There are a few title matches to sort out before Champion Carnival 2020. Plus we’ve got a good number of the combatants in lower card matches; so this is our first real building block at the stories through the Carnival.
Kento, who just tied Toshiaki Kawada’s title defense record after beating Yuma Aoyagi; was getting a bit big for his britches so to speak. Kento’s arrogance was on full display after his defense, and the former Ace Suwama took umbrage with that.
A generational clash for the defense record! Suwama puts himself in the way of the new Ace’s rise to unprecedented heights. Does the former Ace still have a card to play; or will Kento be on to the Champion Carnival as Triple Crown Champion?
AJPW Ratings:
- Dan Tamura & Rising HAYATO vs Hokuto Omori & Tatsuya Hanami: Omori wins via German Suplex Hold @6:50 – **
- Black Menso-re, Francesco Akira & Tsugataka Sato vs Shuji Ishikawa, Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada: Hikaru wins via Ude-Hishigi-Gyaku-Juji-Gatame @10:35 – ** ¼
- Jinsei Shinzaki, Tajiri & Yoshitatsu vs Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori & Osamu Nishimura: Yoshitatsu wins via Koji Clutch @8:05 – ** 1/4
- KAI, Yuma Aoyagi & Zeus vs Gianni Valleta, Ayato Yoshida & Ryoji Sai: KAI wins via Gannosuke Clutch @6:25 – ***
- World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Susumu Yokosuka (c) vs Izanagi: Yokosuka retains via Yokosuka Driver @8:35 – ***
- All Asia Tag Championship: Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto (c) vs Yankee Two Kenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka): Kodaka wins via Isami-Ashi Zan @12:25 – *** ½ – TITLE CHANGE!!
- Triple Crown Championship: Kento Miyahara (c) vs Suwama: Suwama wins via Giant Slam Hold @31:25 – **** ¾ – TITLE CHANGE!!!
AJPW Review:
Dan Tamura & Rising HAYATO vs Omori Hokuto & Tatsuya Hanami
This was a typical young boy wrestling tag match. Hanami is from 2AW, but doesn’t look too far beyond the other participants. There was some decent fire, and nothing offensive; but nothing to really go in to detail about.
Black Menso-re, Francesco Akira & Tsugataka Sato vs Shuji Ishikawa, Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada
Shuji is a little out of place in this match. Okada and Hikaru are juniors, and Francesco was the most recent challenger for the Junior title. Menso-re is usually in there for comedic purposes, so I guess an easy night for Shuji might be appreciated.
Most of the real action happened between Hikaru and Francesco. Given that Hikaru lost to tournament finals for the vacant Junior title and Francesco lost his challenge; there is a logical rivalry for positioning in the ranks. Francesco fought against the more veteran wrestler valiantly, but Hikaru is very adept at grappling and mat wrestling. So even after the other team members broke up one submission attempt, Hikaru managed to keep Francesco down and slip into a Cross Armbreaker.
Jinsei Shinzaki, Tajiri & Yoshitatsu vs Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori & Osamu Nishimura:
We start off with the most interesting interactions in the match, and that’s Akiyama versus Shinzaki.  Both go for the Shoulder Tackle duels of power, until Shinzaki starts showing great agility; especially for a 53 year old man. Leap Frogs over Akiyama, Cartwheels away from Akiyama and goes for a Standing Thrust Kick. Shinzaki pulls off his Praying Rope Walk Chop and we get to the point where Tajiri wants in against Nishimura.
After this it pretty basic. Yoshitatsu gets beat up a little by all three veterans , but once both teams clear out; Yoshitatsu gets the best of Takao. After shaking off a Codebreaker from Jericho, Yoshitatsu locks in the Koji Clutch to build some momentum for the Champion Carnival.
KAI, Yuma Aoyagi & Zeus vs Gianni Valleta, Ayato Yoshida & Ryoji Sai
Zeus came out angry and ran right at Yoshida, which is a little unlike him. Granted, since it’s been about a month between shows, I don’t remember if there’s a reason for this; beyond wanting to set a tone. All of these men are in the Champion Carnival and Zeus definitely has something to prove.
The match starts off with a lot of chaotic brawling on the outside before eventually coming back in. Yuma eats a bit of offense from Sai and Yoshida when their team starts trying to come back, but Zeus wasn’t playing around. He’d make some pretty explosive attacks to try and slow the momentum of the other team, and KAI gets to face off against Valleta. Valleta and his team did to the triple team train corner attacks, but Valleta being Diet Bruiser Brody; he goes to the chain, and that costs him. KAI manages to catch the idiot with a Gannosuke Clutch and escape with the cheeky pinfall.
Zeus is still angry, throwing people and chairs. So building towards the Champion Carnival, it looks like Zeus really has a fire in him.
World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Susumu Yokosuka (c) vs Izanagi
Izanagi’s gameplan was pretty straight forward. Almost immediately Utamaro was on the outside, grabbing Yokosuka, hitting him with a chair, sliding in weapons to Izanagi and just generally taking cheap shots. Izanagi even got a night stick he loaded his boot with; and hit Yokosuka with a stiff Round Kick to the side of the head.
But we should all know that champions don’t go down that easy. But the match was a bit awkward, since as soon as Yokosuka got any momentum, Utamaro would interfere and we’d deal with that. There were a couple malfunction moments with Utamaro hitting Izanagi or vice versa. Yokosuka took the small opening and hit a few of his moves. Yokosuka Cutter didn’t finish Izanagi, so he pulled off the Yokosuka Driver for the pinfall.
It’s a good thing Hikaru Sato picked up the win earlier in the night, since it seemed like Yokosuka wanted Sato to come challenge him. What I can only infer is a challenge born out of respect and the fact that Sato has kept himself relevant, he’s a good challenger.
All Asia Tag Championship: Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto (c) vs Yankee Two Kenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka)
Yankee Two Kenju are previous All Asia Tag champions, and part of the beauty of the title, it’s cross promotional. So we get the BJW team challenging, and early on Iwamoto looks to be in very good shape and doing damn good. There’s a healthy enough respect between the two, and early on it shows when neither team takes any short cuts.
Eventually, the JIN members show their true colors as Jake takes a few cheap shots while Iwamoto has Miyamoto in a Camel Clutch. Miyamoto manages to take Jake to the outside and take him out of the equation enough. Yankee Two Kenju hit some great combos, especially the Running Meteora into the Diving Knees; causing Jake to have to make the save. Iwamoto tried to fight back, but he was chopped down into a position, perfect for Isami’s finishing move. Isami-Ashi Zan (Thrust Kick to kneeling opponent), and Iwamoto is out for the three.
Triple Crown Championship: Kento Miyahara (c) vs Suwama
This was a great contrast of Miyahara almost feeling like victory was inevitable from the first bell. Whereas, Suwama was fighting to keep up with Kento; but mainly, to prove to Kento that he’s not untouchable.
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