The boys are back on track and there’s a new one too! In the last two weeks, Ol’ Dad Cody joined our ranks as a new contributor and Dum Dum Daniels caught up with an old friend called New Japan. Captain Lou covered all 15 matches of the Cyber Fight Festival too.
We’ll be back next week at your regularly scheduled time with NXT TakeOver: In Your House (it didn’t fit!) and other professional wrestling-based fun.
Wrasslin’ With Ol’ Dad: Hansen, Kawada, Kikuchi! - Codysseus
Cyber Fight Festival (6/6/21) - Captain Lou
NJPW Road to Dominion 2021 (6/1/21 & 6/2/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
NJPW Dominion 6.6 in Osaka Castle Hall (6/7/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
AJPW Dynamite Series 2021 (6/9/21) - Captain Lou
Working Man’s WWE TV Review (6/6/21 - 6/12/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
AEW Dynamite Performance Review (6/11/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
Wrasslin’ With Ol’ Dad: Hansen, Kawada, Kikuchi!
Editor’s Note: Please welcome to the arena Cody, ol’ dad himself. He is both Happy Wrestling Land’s newest contributor but also one of its’ oldest friends, an original poster on the Happy Wrestling Forums and father of multiple children. You can find him on Twitter @CoderBaglieffen.
Hello! I’m Cody. When it comes to wrasslin’, I follow my gut and whims, but tend to love classic AJPW. So, I’m starting there. In 1991. I’ve been mostly burnt out on current wrestling, mostly due to focusing on WWE, but I’m trying to rekindle some love.
I probably won’t watch full shows, I’ll skip some main events and hop around to wherever my squirrel brain takes me. Any sort of cohesive plan is daunting, I won’t stick to it, and you can’t make me. I didn’t even watch them in chronological order, so there.
1.26.1991 – Stan Hansen vs. Johnny Ace
Who doesn’t want to see Johnny Ace get beaten up by Stan Hansen? The match starts off amicably enough, but of course dumb Johnny pisses Stan off and gets smacked with a chair a bit. Hansen’s bottom rope elbow drop is one of the simplest, most effective looking moves in wrasslin’. When Johnny kicks out of it, Stan immediately follows up by doing it off the middle rope instead. Johnny gets a couple of flash pinfall attempts near the end, but the crowd doesn’t buy it – nor should they. We’re all waiting for the Western Lariat and it promptly puts an end to things. Hansen slides under the bottom rope without even getting to his feet to celebrate after the three count, cause he has better places to be, apparently.
This is a wonderful 7 minutes to show somebody new to Stan Hansen, just to explain who he is and what he’s all about. The same could probably be said for any 7 minutes of his career, though. **3/4
2.23.1991 – Kawada & Kikuchi vs Taue & Ogawa
We’re joined in progress with Kawada already bloodied and it’s just a fun 7 minute hit of a match from there. Poor Kikuchi, bless him, gets hucked out of the ring by his partner onto Taue, then hucked out of the ring by Taue onto his partner. Then he has to be saved by Kawada, manages to kick-out of Ogawa’s fisherman suplex, which the crowd completely bought into. He has a brief moment of fire before tagging in Kawada. Kawada and Taue hit eachother hard and are probably cursing each other out, but eventually Kawada uses the same enzui-lariat that beat Taue a month prior to keep him out of the ring long enough to put Ogawa away.
Great quick hit of fun, heated wrasslin’ where everyone plays their role, perfect for a father of 4 who nods off to everything these days (me). ***1/2
1.19.1991 – Triple Crown Championship Match – Stan Hansen © vs Jumbo Tsuruta
These guys! I don’t recall them ever having the classic both would have with so many other people, but they’re both such joys to watch.
Jumbo doesn’t get phased at all by Stan’s starting the match by brawling rather than a collar-and-elbow tie-up. Stan gets frustrated, takes a walk, goes back in and decides to do some wrasslin’ holds. They struggle over every little thing, with Jumbo trying to escape all sorts of headlocks, eventually breaking free with an armbreaker. Things escalate from there and Jumbo gets hit in the face with a Western Lariat. They trade a few quick nearfalls and Jumbo eventually surprises Stan with a Giant Baba style Neckbreaker Drop to pick up the win and the belt.
Stan’s pissed, they brawl some more after the bell and I look forward to seeing them do it again sometime. This was a perfectly fun, sub-20 minute title match that left room for bigger and better encounters down the road. ***3/4
2.26.1991 – World Tag Team Championship – Terry Gordy & Steve Williams © vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada
Before the bell rings, Terry & Steve (we’re friends, it’s fine) beat up on our heroes a bit and celebrate by running the ring ropes together. It’s adorable. The crowd loves it, I love it. But then, they get the crowd to boo them later as the jerks that they are, which is a testament to how good they are and how easy it is to root for the demise of anyone who opposes sweet toothless Kawada and the new daddy in town.
This is the Kawada show. He takes a beating, but regularly gets his offense in as the match goes on. He saves Misawa a couple times and you get the feeling he has it in him to maybe beat these hillbillies.
The match goes from good to brilliant when the small, regular interruptions from the non-legal members of each team escalate. Kawada hits the first highspot of the match, a back suplex on Williams. Misawa rushes to keep Gordy out of the ring, which gets the first real nearfall of the match. With Gordy and Misawa occupied, the crowd gets antsy. Williams is able to swing the momentum in his favor, while Gordy detains Misawa, but Kawada doesn’t need him – yet.
Shortly after, Gordy powerbombs Misawa on the concrete floor outside the railing and returns to the ring to team up on Kawada. For the rest of the match, the camera cuts to Misawa, who is completely knocked out. The WWE watcher in me is wondering why they don’t just keep Misawa out of sight so he can eventually have the shocking, heroic return. But that doesn’t happen. They have the patience to let Kawada survive some big hits and to even almost surprise the champs himself. They’re not just trading bombs, either. There’s a back and forth struggle and a good deal of clobbering for a while. Ultimately, Kawada just can’t kickout anymore. But man, the fire.
You get the feeling that Kawada might be able to beat either of these guys by themselves, but together, he needs his teammate. It’s a hell of a showing, though, and the crowd eats it all up. Such disappointment when the final bell rings. Maybe next time, friends.
What a beautiful match.
Champion’s Carnival next, maybe
Captain Lou’s Review: Cyber Fight Festival 2021 (6/6/2021)
Mirai Maiumi, Suzume, Haruna Neko, Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo vs. Nao Kakuta, Raku, Pom Harajuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Kaya Toribami
If you’re like me and don’t know anything about TJPW, this was quite the crash course. The girls got 12 minutes to get themselves over and it mostly worked. Speaking as a complete Tokyo Joshi newbie, I will say that the personalities were 100% on point, but some of the work was a bit light. Because of her recent appearance on a DDT show, I was only familiar with Maiumi and she was in a league of her own here. There was some real conviction behind everything she did. Weirdly enough, the debuting masked woman Toribami was a close #2 and already seemed light years ahead some of her more experienced colleagues. You’ll probably want to keep an eye on her. **1/2
Battle Royal
Participants: Antonio Honda, Masao Inoue, Yuna Manase, Makoto Oishi, Yusuke Okada, Shu Sakurai, Yuya Koroku, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Kazuki Hirata, Shuhei Taniguchi, Yuji Hino, Akitoshi Saito, Saki Akai, Mohammed Yone, Toru Owashi
Congratulations. Being a part of this Battle Royal means that you’ve made it in showbusiness. Look, I actually laughed a few times and was enthralled by Hirata’s entrance. Also, Yatsu coming out to the Back to the Future theme with his new bionic leg was absolutely incredible. The final showdown between alternate universe eye pokers Masao and Honda wrapped things up in poetic fashion.
Ken Ohka, Keisuke Ishii & Shota vs. Shuichiro Katsumura, Kouki Iwasaki & Yumehito Imanari
GanPro in the house, baby. Big Ken Ohka’s crew looked good, even if the match felt super rushed. Imanari did the thing where he just won’t stop screaming. I must ask: why? Everything else was fine though, especially the very cool ending stretch between crafty cradler Shota and polished kicker Iwasaki. Having Ganbare’s very unique announcer on deck to introduce the boys was a nice touch. **3/4
Yuki Iino & Toi Kojima vs. Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada
Here we are, out of the dark matches and right into very solid wrestling territory. Watching the young NOAH duo play the grumpy big leaguers against little Kojima was too much fun. The DDT rookie has been fine-tuning his chops in the past few months, but they’re still not quite there. Having gotten torn to shreds by the likes of Shiozaki and Marufuji, the NOAH kids understandably would NOT sell any of this shit and it made for a rad dynamic. They even worked a bit of a limb story that was paid off quite nicely when Junta decided to slap the lights out of Toi and break his arm for the finish. Bonus points for Iino’s new pink singlet. Big Yutaka Yoshie energy. ***
Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs. Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe vs. Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino – 3-Way Tag Match
Much better than the TJPW opener. This time around, the wrestling matched the gimmicks and energy. The girls had a fast-paced little number that wisely used the 3-way tropes and made Watanabe and Nakajima both look like stars. Watanabe stood out with her various strength spots (including a sweet Crazy MAX-style giant swing/dropkick combo with her partner) while wolf girl Nakajima stole the show with her speedy high-flying. That whole Steiner Bulldog sequence was so well put together. ***
Takashi Sugiura & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Danshoku Dino & Super Sasadango Machine
Powerpoint presentations. Pantyhose comedy. Danshoku Dino in general. This was Sugiura-Gun’s fiercest challenge yet. Honestly, I’m convinced these dorks are the ones who asked for this match. *3/4
Masa Kitamiya vs. Hideki Okatani
The match barely lasted 3 minutes, but Okatani looked like a million bucks. Masa’s always been generous in the ring (sometimes to a fault) and he just let the DDT youngster run all over him for most of this. Following Okatani’s steady progress in the last year has been one of the joys of reviewing DDT shows, so seeing him deliver on the big stage felt pretty special. **1/2
Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku & Marika Kobashi vs. Hikari Noa, Mizuki & Yuki Arai
Let me put my TJPW Expert hat back on for a minute to tell you that this was a lot of fun. Ito’s been on the receiving end of severe CULTURAL BACKLASH lately due to her AEW showcase and loud Twitter presence. People seem to be offended because she’s not a six-star wrestler or something. From the limited Maki Content I’ve been able to watch (including this match), I will hereby declare Maki Itoh as Good. Obviously, her charisma is her best asset but she also knows how to work within her limits and had some really fine wrestling with Yuki Arai. Also very much dug the sassy heeling from Kamiyu and Marika, who more than held their own throughout this pleasant sprint. ***1/4
Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara vs. Yoshinari Ogawa, HAYATA & Seiki Yoshioka
By the numbers NOAH juniors action, which is not necessarily a bad thing. By the numbers NOAH juniors action is still tighter than most OTHER KINDS of action. They did a Greatest Hits version of what this crew does best: Stinger with the Southern heel leg work, Ohara playing babyface in peril and sneaking in some nifty backbreaker comebacks, Yoshioka/Harada just going insanely fast with the cutting-edge counter wrasslin’ and Kotoge doing the Red Bull-fueled lariats in the corner. Plus, Momo No Seishun all looked adorable in their big match white gear. Yes. ***
Chris Brookes, Shunma Katsumata & MAO vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Soma Takao
Aw man, this ruled. Just a really cool encapsulation of the DDT non-comedy house style – all creativity and colorful personalities. MAO and Endo have some next-level Cirque du Soleil chemistry and they were completely unafraid to show it off here. If you like your flips and assorted capoeira shenanigans – they are your guys. Shunma got in all of his underdog babyface shtick (‘’NEPPOWER!’’, ‘’Katsumata, Ganbare!’’ etc.) and got his ass kicked like only he can. The post-hot tag section delivered some of the wildest dives on this card, namely MAO’s springboard BOX ATTACK and a mothefucksudfhsd SPRINGBOARD SHOOTING STAR from Endo! You know you need more of these lads. King of DDT is just around the corner, baby. ***1/2
Sanshiro Takagi, Akito, Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi, Naomi Yoshimura & Yukio Naya vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Haoh, Nioh & Tadasuke
Galaxy-brained ideological warfare that switched between comedy and stone-cold seriousness at all the right moments. Kenoh is not the guy that will give you six star matches all year long, but he excels at character work and his heel performance brought this thing to another level. Having grown up on Riki Choshu’s various interpromotional beefs, this Kongo/DDT story was tailor-made for him. Takagi and Sakaguchi filled out the other key roles – the DDT boss taking an ungodly amount of punishment for his team and Sakaguchi stepping up as the last line of defense against Kongo’s brutal assault. Perfect blend of big show spectacle and effective emotional manipulation. Also, jetbikes. ***3/4
Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura
When this was announced, Jun Akiyama jokingly tweeted that it should main event over the KO-D and GHC title matches. He was right. Ueno is on a WOTY-type run, turning the DDT Universal title into one of the most reliable championships in wrestling. Meanwhile, Takeshita’s been converting every tag match opportunity into a workrate burner (see: him/MAO vs. Eruption and his Ultimate Tag League run with Shunma). Put these guys with two bright young wrestlers who’ve been searching for purpose in NOAH all year long and you end up with the very definition of a banger.
Historically, interpromotional matches in Japan have largely been about pure hatred. This was more about which team could outwrestle the other. Normally, I would lambast these boys for eschewing the hate-filled path, but the work was so absurdly tight that I simply cannot complain. They turned a match with zero stakes or titles on the line into pure excitement – something that made you straight up giddy about the future of Japanese wrestling. Everyone looked like the best version of themselves: four guys you should be following regularly in their respective promotions.
Takeshita clearly had a hand in some of the more creative parts of the layout and gelled seamlessly with the NOAH gang. Great power exchanges with Inamura (who has evolved into a HUMAN TIRE) and some seriously-clever chain wrestling with Kaito. Best boy Ueno was the emotional core of the match, first playing babyface in peril against Inamura and then pulling the best ending stretch out of Kiyomiya in ages. That slappy outburst really brought something out of Kaito – the moody supernova managing to make himself look great in defeat. Just, wow. This might be a complicated request, but I need these four to wrestle each other much more frequently. ****1/4
Miyu Yamashita © vs. Yuka Sakazaki – Princess of Princess Title
Here’s a match that started great, completely lost me in the middle and then ended on a high note. Miyu’s badass entrance and the snug matwork that kicked things off felt completely unlike anything we’d seen from TJPW on the rest of the card. Gone were the cutesy vibes – these two had themselves god damn title match.
Now, this might come off as sacrilegious to Tokyo Joshi regulars, but the mid-match dynamic seemed weirdly unnatural to me. Yuka has such obvious babyface appeal and Miyu has such a clear badass heelish aura that I was puzzled by them going in the exact opposite direction. After some awkward spots that didn’t quite land, things picked up big time with a forearm duel for the ages. They hit the finish line with intensity, fighting spirit and high-quality striking, leaving their mark on this show via a spin kick from Miyu has to be seen to be believed. ***1/2
Jun Akiyama © vs. HARASHIMA – KO-D Openweight Title
More rock-solid title match wrasslin’ from two old pros. I dug how well defined the match was early on – HARASHIMA starting off hot with his signature stomach destruction, Akiyama responding in kind by ripping apart his neck. Both guys went on long, sustained stretches of offense where things looked like they hurt and were sold accordingly. With Akiyama, the devil is always in the details. See: him turning a basic-ass figure 4 necklock into a compelling submission, or his trash talk in the corner later on. Great shit.
The back end of the match mostly hit the right notes, but lacked the hooks of Uncle Jun’s defenses against Higuchi and Endo. Akiyama’s way of putting HARASHIMA over was to let him kick out of a lot of stuff. In very straight forward fashion. Not the most imaginative ending stretch ever, even if it did score some good clapping heat. Everything before the kickout overload was gravy. ***3/4
Keiji Muto © vs. Naomichi Marufuji – GHC Heavyweight Title
Like most of the Muto reign, this wasn’t for me. They did the 2021 Muto long match layout with 2021 Marufuji tropes and it made for a whole lot of 2021 wrestling I don’t care much about. To Muto’s credit, all the highlights of this Cyber Odyssey came from him. Obviously, the Moonsault miracle was a proper moment, but he also pulled of some clever dragon screw variants I hadn’t seen before. Meanwhile, Maru tried to get some arm work subplot going to build up the Perfect keylock and it just felt super flat. I liked the idea of Muto causing his own demise with the Moonsault, but Marufuji’s comeback kick combo landing about 3 inches from Muto’s face just about killed any potential excitement. Gentlemen’s Three for the Moonsault. ***
Happy Thoughts – NJPW Road to Dominion (6/1/21 & 6/2/21)
After an outbreak of COVID-19 and the winner of BOSJ 19, New Japan is back. Or at least they were fired up to be back and it translated into some pretty great wrestling. Selections from the “Road to Dominion” tour are Thought About below.
1. Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI (6/1/21)
Absence makes the heart grow fonder – that’s what they say. Naito and Ishii are scrapping, Shingo is bringing it to Okada, and YOSHI-HASHI is bringing it to everybody — that’s a stew, baby, and it made for the best New Japan 8-man in like seven years (approximately).
I missed the boys dancing and these two groups in particular are the best in the world at complex tag team wrestling exchanges. There’s plenty of tremendous changes in tempo and the finish is as good an example as any: SANADA misses a moonsault but lands on his feet and gets the Cold Skull on Goto, Okada boots SANADA, Shingo lariats Okada, Ishii backdrop suplexes Shingo, Naito dropkicks Ishii low, YOSHI lariats Naito, and it’s YOSHI who saves the day when he blocks BUSHI’s impending attack with a superkick. Soon he and Goto hit their finish on SANADA for 3. ***1/2
2. IWGP Tag Team Title: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [c] vs. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (6/1/21)
I’m trying to think of an interesting way to say this match is way better than you or I could ever expect but I still don’t think you need to, like, experience it or anything. The Guerillas of Destiny fit some kind of role, but that role is still not 30-minute tag match guys. Just not happening. Luckily this is way more about the Dangerous Tekkers being amazing babyfaces, a role that may not come natural to the British prick and pervert who sings but here we are. This shit is compelling.
ZSJ pops people with highspots ranging from a Frankensteiner off the top rope to a tilt-a-whirl cobra twist into a heel hook (!!), while the people love and cherish their hero Taichi Ishikari — especially when those dirtballs Sons of Haku harassed the returning Miho Abe. They manage a pretty wild finish with everything from run-ins to guys getting spiked on their head to a crowd delighted over Taichi just kicking ass. Taichi absolutely slaughters Tama with a gamengiri and superkick to the face to setup a ZSJ Michinoku Driver for the win. Hugs. Celebrations. Something felt miscast. ***1/2
3. Kota Ibushi & Master Wato vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan (6/2/21)
If it wasn’t obvious, this is mostly our blue-haired kung-fu pal Master Wato getting beat up by a couple fellas. The satisfaction on his face when he successfully escapes a bodyslam and brings the Great O-Khan down with a Zig Zag is almost worth it – almost. Ibushi gets in a few shots on current rival Jeff Cobb and wrecks O-Khan with a double stomp before he tags Wato back in and sees him lose. **1/2
4. NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Title: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI (6/2/21)
Like the 8-man tag above, here’s another example of the CHAOS and Los Ingobernables guys just being above everybody else at complex tag team exchanges – impressive movement, genuine surprise, and just a rhythmic pattern that keeps the half-hour journey fresh and downright enthralling they build towards a dramatic and exciting conclusion. Seeing a motivated Tetsuya Naito throwing down in a multi-man tag is pretty great too – singles wrestler Naito has ups and downs; bring me tag team ace Tetsuya.
SANADA/Goto and Naito/Ishii pair off, while YOSHI-HASHI just kind of messes with everybody: he takes most of the beatings while Ishii brings the ass-kicking and angry faces. Goto is his low-key all-star self too, the guy relied on to add that extra fire to every exchange of moves he’s involved with — maybe because you’re just like, “My god – Goto is actually firing up.” He does this like every time though.
Towards the end the Korakuen crowd gets into BUSHI possibly beating YOSHI nearly as much as they’d get into YOSHI beating anybody at all — before he proved himself. BUSHI hits a MX that YOSHI bumps like a freak for and it makes for an incredible false finish before BUSHI ends up caught in YOSHI’s Butterfly Lock. I loved how this came together, as after all the big moves and close calls the end of the match was BUSHI struggling to escape for a real minute as Naito tried in vain to escape Ishii’s grasp to save and just… couldn’t. Tap tap tap. ****
Happy Thoughts – NJPW Dominion 6.6 in Osaka Castle Hall (6/7/21)
Initiate upgrade sequence.
The Road to Dominion was paved with great wrestling — let’s see about Dominion itself.
1. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & SHO vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
Pretty basic banter from the boys to kick it off at Osaka Castle Hall, though it’s so rock solid that I can tell you that with the exception of Shingo Takagi himself the Ishii/Goto/YOSHI trio were the all-stars of the Dominion 2021 tour. SHO continues to play up some kind of Tanahashi Jr. shtick, which could be interesting. Tanahashi the Elder smacks Ishimori with a Sling Blade then calls for his boy with such a passion that… well, Ishimori pins SHO. Ah. OK. I missed Tanahashi so much. Not ELP. ***
2. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
I’m not sure how new an addition BUSHI’s elaborate red light-up mask is, but it’s an incredible piece of merchandise. If I saw him show up to work with that I’d strap him him up with a Jr. Heavyweight Championship at a minimum. Taichi went from an ultimate babyface performance a few days ago to straight heel work here and it can only make you appreciate him more.
Otherwise the most interesting part of this was probably healing commentator Hiromu Takahashi jamming to Naito’s music. SANADA and ZSJ trade holds before SANADA impressively counters a Japanese leg roll clutch by holding ZSJ down with a kind of Tiger suplex hold cradle thing for 3. Naito/SANADA vs. Taichi/ZSJ appears to be next. That works. **1/2
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: El Desperado [c] vs. YOH
El Despy opens this up the right away, cutting the clean break nonsense immediately and kicking YOH in the BUTT. The butt!! It creates a solid dynamic for a solid match, one primarily spent with Despy attacking YOH’s leg. YOH takes it like a champ but doesn’t really capture an essence struggling on defense or fighting for a comeback, and that doesn’t support much in the way of drama towards the end. These two are reliable and it was kind of refreshing how simple it was, but it still wasn’t hitting above a good solid championship wrestling match. ***1/2
4. Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb
There were bits and pieces of brilliance here, Kota Ibushi the under-sized hero capable of getting in some nasty shots on this version of Jeff Cobb who occasionally — here maybe more than any other match — meets his Gary Albright-ish potential. They also kept the match under 15 minutes, and anyone who’s read anything about New Japan on the Internet in the last decade knows that’s a brilliant thing all in itself. For a guy who’s finish is not the Kamigoye, Cobb throws a heck of a Kamigoye. Pretty straight-up match that didn’t quite make The Case for either guy. ***1/2
5. IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi
I want to tell you about two of my favorite wrestlers.
Shingo Takagi is big and strong and looks like a middle-District Hunger Games guy and wrestles that way too: powerful, explosive, and maybe most important with purpose—the most purposeful wrestler going today, extra impressive given all the other insane stuff he does. It feels like Jerry Lawler doing mid-90s All Japan— not quite, but almost. He’s used that dynamic to be so good for so long, a wrecking ball who has powered through any lack of expectation when he moved from Dragon Gate to New Japan. Even in this stubborn and strange industry, some guys are undeniable and those journeys keep this fascinating.
Kazuchika Okada, who may or may not have been resting up injuries the last year or two after one of the all-time great runs in pro wrestling, has only been in a couple big spots this year after a weak 2020 but looked like his old best in the world self here — granted the last times he looked this good it was with Shingo too.
They’re both at a minimum 5 of the best active examples I can provide for you of why I like this so much that I still dedicate so much of * looks around * to it, capable of some of the highest quality work this great faux-sport may be capable of pulling off, thrilling and impressive action that balances being both a canvas of beautiful art and something you can flip out about with your pals. It’s put over the top by a commitment to their character and their ability to always be getting across something, even if it’s just: “Hey guys! This is a competition. This stuff is real.”
This wasn’t just about Okada fighting to win another championship, in fact he seemed kind of annoyed that he had to: Shingo might’ve beat him a few months ago but Okada beat ex-champ Ospreay in January and Shingo’s just… Naito’s guy, you know? One of the first times he’s able to string together any offense early in the match, Okada celebrates with claps and stomps as if to say: “I wasn’t supposed to be here today.” The match is really all about the Shingo response though, which is basically: “Sorry brother, but I’m the best thing going.”
The story was there, the match delivered on it, and the whole experience also happened to just be an ideal example of what’s so awesome about all this in the first place. Doesn’t hurt that it is topped off by the crowning of a new top name in the yard and opening of plenty new scenarios for NJPW.
The first half was carried by Shingo’s dominance and the second by a return-to-form main event Okada performance. Shingo creates the feel of a relentless challenge, few openings to escape and extra sauce on everything. When he grapples Okada into an armbar he’s fought for it, if there’s downtime as Okada absorbs something he’ll look at the crowd with a grin like “yeah I got your boy.” I don’t think he even let Okada lift him up. It’s an exercise in dedication but also a little toxic masculinity.
Okada does all the Good Wrestler stuff throughout the match like armbars and rope-running and last-second kickouts in an effort to slay this punk, but it’s the weight he gives to everything in his timing and facial expressions and just visible exhaustion that’s extra for even him that helps assist smashing the wrecking ball into the upper echelon and carry this into great match beyond territory. Some of the most fun with Okada is when he organically shifts from cocky asshole to guy falling behind, and when his aging body is dropped on the floor mats he really just doesn’t even recover even if he continues fighting back for another 15 minutes.
Shingo eventually completely knocks the wind out of Okada with a STAY DREAM from the TOP ROPE and when the camera zooms in on the Rainmaker’s face, it is one that either can’t process how his body isn’t doing what he wants it to do or one imagining life sticking to 10-man tag openers against ELP. He’s able to lift an arm up before a 3-count, but an attempt to stand ends with him keeled for a while like his appendix burst. Shingo’s response is a sliding lariat and flurry of elbows to the face, even deep into the match appearing to be some kind of Terminator. Contrasted with the pain Okada is clearly in, it gives the end of the match all it needs.
Okada is somehow able to work his way into a mojo, a feat he’s triumphantly pulled off many times before… until Shingo shuts him down with a Rainmaker. The crowd flips.
Both guys struggle up and Okada’s able to sneak in a Rainmaker before setting up one more because at this point he’s got to consider that Shingo may not be human. That may be proven when Shingo ducks and hits his own. They transition to trading assorted suplexes and signature maneuvers, though Okada’s consistently a step behind: the last straw is Shingo escaping a tombstone then hitting a Drstom suplex and sliding lariat. Okada, sporting the face of a man either aware of his impending doom or dangerously concussed, is lifted for the Last of the Dragon and gets dropped. When Okada actually stays down for 3, the new champ’s reaction is priceless.
The G1 and New Japan Cup matches may have very well had bigger peak as one of them raged towards a comeback, but those were also just another piece of the puzzle to get to this classic wrestling match. Shingo Takagi wasn’t just a B-show challenger or even mere equal to Okada — tonight, he was the guy better suited to dominate this era of New Japan. *****
Happy Thoughts: Shingo Takagi as IWGP Champion is the most exciting move New Japan has made since EVIL turned on Tetsuya Naito, and I’m feeling bullish on this turning out a little better. It also happened as a result of a five-star match. Undercard is good too, which is not always the case. Welcome back, boys. Keep cooking. 3.5 / 5.0
Captain Lou’s Review: AJPW Dynamite Series 2021 (6/9/2021)
Francesco Akira & Alejandro vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO
The small men of All Japan Pro-Wrestling look completely revitalized by the Junior Battle of Glory. A tournament that I did not have time to watch yet. Akira calls himself FIREBALL now and as much as I’d enjoy seeing him adorned in cinnamon whiskey imagery, he’s actually covered in hot flamez and looks ready to take over this division. Burn, baby, burn. Meanwhile, the Nextream aerialists keep watching AEW Dark every week in order to pick up new tricks. Clearly, it’s starting to pay off because they managed to fit in an inordinate amount of flips and cartwheels in these 8 minutes. As for the latin lover Alejandro, he is basically the 2021 Masanobu Fuchi of this new AJPW regime. A Korakuen exclusive, monthly delight. FUN. ***1/4
Black Menso-re vs. Devil Murasaki
Masked man Devil Murasaki is both a mystery and an enigma. All that we know about him is that he’s Purple Haze’s junior LOOSE CANON. I’m not sure if they’re trying to do some intense Dragon Dia/Dia Inferno-style masked rivalry between him and Menso-re, but based on this match – I would recommend not doing that. *1/2
Takao Omori & Ryuki Honda vs. Jun Saito & Rei Saito
You won’t find a more perfect pair of All Japan rookies than the Saito twins. They’re unfairly tall, move around like they’re from the 80’s and are completely unafraid to use their sumo background. Also, they already have about half of their lives behind them. The complete Zen Nihon package. Both were allowed to do a lot more than your average young boy, which makes me think they’ll be hopping right on the Suwama-style supernova highway. Jun already has a pretty commanding presence and feels like a potential star, while brother Rei showed he could throw chest forearms with the best of ‘em. Can’t wait to see them hustle their way up on the undercard. **3/4
Zeus, Izanagi & UTAMARO vs. TAJIRI, Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama
Oh, Devil Murasaki. What have you done now!! The puzzling Murasaki run-ins fed right into TAJIRI’s shenanigans-heavy finish obsession and made for a bit of midcard unpleasantness. Purple Haze feel kind of lost in the shuffle at the moment. Adding a run-in guy to their ranks is probably not the best way to get them back on track. I don’t know. *3/4
Suwama, Shotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura vs. Jake Lee, Kuma Arashi & Koji Doi
Stop the presses. The Dark Gentleman Jake Lee has begun regrowing his musketeer goatee and will be at the height of his facial powers for the Triple Crown match with Suwama. A match I’m really looking forward to, previewed efficiently by these six gentlemen. The Wama/Jake ending stretch was especially tasty and it looks like both guys have some clever new counters up their sleeve. That casual murder lariat cut-off for Jake’s running knee was brilliant. Ashino also did great here as the hot tag receiver, cleaning house on his former Enfants buddies in pretty epic fashion. ***
CIMA © vs. Koji Iwamoto – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
I was skeptical at first, but this turned out very well. Once they got past the neck work retread of their Nagoya match, the action started ramping up in a big way and both guys brought the effort. Iwamoto fought from underneath for a lot of the match, which was a good call as most of his move-set works better in a comeback format. CIMA supplied the usual creativity and turned the ending stretch into a real nail biter thanks to his wide array of established finishers. Thumbs way up for the jumping DDT counter out of the judo throw and the hellacious sit-out Last Ride finish. ***1/2
Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi © vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato – AJPW Tag Team Titles
The Nextream tag formula is getting a bit predictable, but the work is still hard to deny. Grouchy Kohei Sato added a fun new wrinkle to Yuma’s usual fighting underdog arc, bringing some additional danger to the table with his insta-knockout forearms and shoot headbutts. They got a lot of mileage out of Aoyagi just holding on for dear life after eating Twin Towers’ double team rush of death – Korakuen gasping more and more at every kickout. Kento was a great supporting character here, leaving the spotlight to Aoyagi but making the most out of all of his contributions.
Really enjoyed the bit where he tried to Ace it up against Sato only to get the wind knocked out of him. Other things that popped me: Kohei’s god damn 2nd-rope Falcon Arrow of pure pain and Aoyagi playing dead to bait Big Shuj into some flash rollups. I probably would’ve gone higher if they had found a new twist to the now par for the course Endgame finish. Kento and Yuma had a rock-solid reign that did wonders in elevating the blue boy wonder, but now feels like a good time to pass the puck to Kuma and Doi! ***3/4
Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 6/6/21 – 6/12/21
Some weeks it’s just the nuance of Jey Uso getting me through it.
Working Man’s Recap
Good Work: Kofi Kingston, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Mercedes Martinez, Cameron Grimes, Kay Lee Ray, Meiko Satomura, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Roman Reigns, Rey Mysterio
World: Lashley/McIntyre – Still!, Shayna’s Scared, TakeOver: In Your House, Kay Lee Ray is Dethroned, Battle for a Crown, The Roman Reigns/Usos Saga
Wrestling: NXT UK Title: Kay Lee Ray [c] vs. Meiko Satomura (NXT UK 6/10/21), Kevin Owens & Big E vs. Apollo Crews & Sami Zayn (SmackDown 6/11/21)
Entertainment: Ted DiBiase’s Priceless Announcement with Cameron Grimes and LA Knight (NXT 6/8/21), Roman Reigns tells Jimmy Uso to be the best (SmackDown 6/11/21), Rey Mysterio challenges Roman Reigns and Roman powerbombs Dominik to the outside (SmackDown 6/11/21)
RAW (6/7/21)
Another skip for the red brand.
The Viking Raiders won a Tag Team Battle Royal that peaked at John Morrison/Lince Dorado, Jaxson Ryker is getting a babyface push, and Drew McIntyre sliced up a contract signing table with his sword.
Nikki Cross said she isn’t pretty or strong then danced with Asuka. Sometimes you just have to type it out.
Ricochet and Humberto Carrillo exchanged moves for the right to get beat up by Sheamus at some point and Mansoor beat Drew Gulak in like a second. Jeff Hardy beat Cedric Alexander and I am pretty sure they explicitly told Kofi Kingston and Riddle to go out and kill time with a singles match.
The show ended with Shayna Baszler scared and trapped in Alexa’s Playground.
Rating: 1.5 / 5.0
NXT (6/8/21)
Dok Hendrix might have sold the shit out of it but TakeOver: In Your House on Sunday is still a card built around two random multi-man matches: a Fatal 5-Way for the NXT Title and a Winner Take All 6-man.
That last one was just announced tonight, as was a Ladder Match between Cameron Grimes and LA Knight for the Million Dollar Championship. Grimes has become straight-up tremendous during this angle with Ted DiBiase, an actual funny guy in an unfunny company.
Austin Theory did a wild corner springboard Spanish Fly in the opener against Oney Lorcan, who actually won. Mercedes Martinez made threats to Tian Sha and Tyler Breeze has a goatee now.
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Killian Dain and Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai were both fun matches. Swerve will seamlessly hit hard, flip around, and run full speed into a crossbody.
Poppy (a musical artist) met Triple H and William Regal, hugged Dexter Lumis, and ran off Candice LeRae with Io Shirai – what a night!
Rating: 2.75 / 5.0
MAIN EVENT (6/9/21)
“Cheeky move by Mustafa Ali!” exclaimed commentator Kevin Patrick, reacting as Ali moved into position to slam Garza’s head into the turnbuckle post and just submit him – a creative finish for a solid match.
Jinder Mahal was back with Veer & Shanky to wrestle Shelton Benjamin too, and they had the match you think they did.
Rating: 2.5 / 5.0
NXT UK (6/10/21)
Aside from WALTER making a (brief) statement and Pretty Deadly being Pretty Funny on commentary, this week was about one thing: Kay Lee Ray vs. Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s Title.
KLR and Satomura last wrestled a few months ago in a match I liked a lot, one where Kay Lee Ray kept her title. This one was similar, not to say it was redundant: good credible championship wrestling is always in style for me. Meiko does the windmill kick towards the end and when KLR tries to avoid it, Satomura’s boot brushes her head — it could look like a missed spot, but what it really looks like is the nasty consequence of a competitive match.
KLR developed the confidence of a Champion a long time ago, while Satomura exudes a veteran credibility dashed with the possibility she might not be able to keep up anymore. They played with that over 20 or so minutes, building to a pretty epic finish marred only by some suit telling them to tack on a DQ tease and Death Valley Driver on the floor. So begins the reign of Meiko Satomura and hopefully the United States emergence of Kay Lee Ray.
Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
SMACKDOWN (6/11/21)
“I’m stuck in the middle of this and I don’t know how to get out of it!” – Jey Uso
The saga of Roman Reigns and The Usos continues to carry this show, a tight 30-minute scripted drama within 2 hours of weird wrestling. Jey’s tricky situation came to a head this week as his twin brother continued to argue with his cousin, who happens to be the Tribal Chief, Head of the Table, Universal Champion, and now just a scary asshole.
To maintain his place at the top (that may or may not be arranged already), rOMAN has traumatized Jey into submission for months. This week when Jimmy, returning from injury and ready to get back in the tag game, talked Jey into standing up for himself… it was Roman who looked traumatized. It was also Roman who began guilt tripping Jimmy immediately to fix it. The best part? All this is getting across on TV, or at least on mine. WWE backstage segments are generally bad, but the boys are putting genuine acting effort into a compelling story and it is holding my attention like nothing else in wrestling.
The boys aside, SmackDown is ran by the same dummies but continues to just have a different energy than RAW — first and foremost, it has an energy: the opening tag with Kevin Owens and Big E as the ultimate babyface team, Bayley and Seth Rollins laughing like goofballs before Rollins got beat up, Street Profits going back-and-forth with corny Chad Gable… this isn’t on fire, but at least it’s fun. Even Apollo Crews and Carmella have completely leaned into their WWE gimmicks and become a welcome part of the show — especially when ‘Mella is putting over Liv Morgan.
On top of stirring up competition between his twin cousins, Roman beat the hell out of Dominik Mysterio last week too and this week daddy wanted revenge. I thought Rey Mysterio pretty brilliantly played both distraught and vengeful father as he called out Roman to close the show, and while RAW ended with a lame attempt at a horror movie, SmackDown closed with what felt like an actual scary cliffhanger through the simple powers of pro wrestling.
Roman seemed charmed by little Rey’s challenge, like it was maybe number fifteen on the Tribal Chief’s list. He continued to look like a monster when Rey started battering him with a kendo stick and he responded as if it was a temporary inconvenience, not a real challenge. Dominik soon ran out to even the odds, but ended up even worse off than last week: Roman picked him up in a powerbomb position and just chucked him out of the ring and to the floor.
Thunderdome camera tricks and Dominik’s goofy selling aside, another incredible angle from the Tracksuit Sociopath.
Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
205 LIVE (6/11/21)
Grayson Waller made his debut this week, but it was against Sunil Singh who dislocated a shoulder early in the match. Waller seemed more silly than good, but who’s to know?
Ari Sterling and Asher Hale played bickering partners against Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari in a quiet main event, the highlight of which was Daivari’s outburst of unbridled pent-up joy when the 205 Dads actually won.
Rating: 1.5 / 5.0
Working Man’s Satisfaction: 54% [-1%]
Performance Review – AEW Dynamite (6/11/21)
“I don’t have a family, so I don’t give a shit about either one of yours!” – Cash Wheeler
We’re still in the slow times but the wrestling was good and the main event felt refreshing: big Preston Vance and Powerhouse Hobbs are a couple young prospects that delivered in their showcase spot, which is where a lot of the fun in AEW lies — maybe that’s why it seems like more fun is being had on YouTube than TNT.
Otherwise: treading water, trading promos, and traveling soon.
The World
The world of Dynamite has lost a little luster but it’s still one where Sting is Darby Allin’s surrogate dad and the son of Arn Anderson debuts next week.
The world-building seems to be more within the Dark Universe nowadays, and I could start watching that but am kind of waiting for the debut of Rampage to sort itself out… as is AEW. I was still a little put off when Nick Nemeth showed up acting like he could just challenge Orange Cassidy.
The Pinnacle and The Inner Circle moves on with a series of singles and tag matches, which is better than the call-and-response they’ve been doing for months. This week had Inner Circle taking sledgehammers to the Pinnacle’s limo, which was definitely a thing they did to extend this.
For a while it felt like AEW had a handle on giving their folks’ motivations to care about, but recently it has felt more like getting guys in place for a TV variety show. Maybe that’s where all TV wrestling goes, but I don’t think so.
Eddie Kingston is palling around with PAC and chasing The Young Bucks, while Jungle Boy has a big match coming up with Kenny Omega who is bitching with Don Callis about conspiracies and being real WRESTLING HEELS! They’re bad guys, man. Real cocky jerks.
Matt Hardy laid out Christian Cage to start the show, Miro crushed the hopes of Evil Uno at the top of the hour, and they repeated the Team Taz angle from Double or Nothing. They added a slap I guess.
Performance: 2.75 / 5.0 (LOSING MOMENTUM)
The Wrestling
Lance Archer bounced back (from another loss) with a quick squash; Nyla Rose bounced back from not being on TV by having a whole match with Legit Leyla Hirsch – there was sit-out powerbomb off the top rope, for godssakes!
Christian Cage vs. Angelico – In which Christian Cage sold for the South African Submission Savant, a solid wrestling match that was kind of fascinating just for that. The grizzled young vet Christian run continues.
Eddie Kingston, PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo vs. The Young Bucks & Brandon Cutler – It’s a group of talent, folks. All types of talent. The Young Bucks opposite PAC is a marvel to watch throughout, but the Cutler injured heel dork shtick was some serious bush league nonsense.
TNT Title: Miro [c] vs. Evil Uno w/ Dark Order – Highlight of the show… I got nervous when they aired the Brodie Lee tribute prior and had the Dark Order (including Brodie’s son!) come out to root on Evil Uno towards the end of the match, anxieties brought on by pretty much all of wrestling history. Evil Uno’s loss was near-certain, and yeah – he lost. But he brought heavier strikes than expected that threw Miro for a loop, and any time he tried to get cute – a Swanton bomb, a Brodie lariat – Miro just no-sold that shit. Both guys came out looking incredible, Miro an unsentimental monster and Uno the guy fighting for his friends… one of whom just has to take Miro down. Right? Right??
Hangman Page & Dark Order’s 10 vs. Brian Cage & Powerhouse Hobbs – Big 10 can hit, and so can the Powerhouse. This was a little hampered by a retread finish but for most of the match it was good physical action that got across something for everyone.
Performance: 3.5 / 5.0 (REAL GOOD STUFF)
The Entertainment
The entertainment conversation is veering from pure entertainment to Sports Entertainment and it’s pretty disappointing: Brandon Cutler wearing a tracksuit and face protector, Don Callis‘ conspiracy video… even the Inner Circle destroying a limo just felt like something picked out of the hat. How many times are we going to Run An Angle?
Have grown to appreciate the way Dax Harwood does that ehhhheheh sound as he’s stalling for the next thing to say, like he’s Macho Man Randy Savage pacing and thinkin… thinkin… thinkin.
Performance: 3.0 / 5.0 (MORE ABOUT THE WRESTLING)
My Favorite Things
Darby Allin tells Sting to stay home and Sting respects it
Brock Anderson’s orange polo shirt and khaki shorts
Eddie Kingston and PAC’s double tope suicida
Room for Improvement
“Cut it out!” MJF could be more convincing with his reactions to a limo destroyed
I know he’s the Elite Hunter and all but Frankie Kazarian should be a little more recognizable
Build the world again, guys!
Top 10 Dynamite Stars
Miro (4)
Darby Allin (-)
Britt Baker (1)
Eddie Kingston (3)
Hangman Page (-)
Kenny Omega (-)
Jungle Boy (9)
Orange Cassidy (-)
Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky (7)
Cody Rhodes (NEW)
5 to Keep an Eye on
Preston Vance
Powerhouse Hobbs
Legit Leyla Hirsch
Jade Cargill
Kris Statlander