The more I watch Ishii and especially Irie the more I love these guys. Irie is short and fat and wrestles a fun power junior heavyweight style. About a fourth of the way into the match I started to realize they are going for more than your pedestrian opener and by the end I was hooked on the near falls hoping the DDT visitors would score the upset victory. Team Dream Futures won me over with their apparent finisher which amounts to a GTS onto Irie's mohawk (instead of Ishii's knee). I understand the reason the two teams went to a 20 minute time limit draw. It shows that TDF are on par with Xceed and if given more time in a rematch could win, but I would have loved to see a finish and would have given this four stars if that had been the case. If you have time this is worth a look.
Jon Bolen vs Tyson Dux
This felt like an 8 minute exhibition with no real story to tell from two wrestlers that seem to not be headed anywhere fast in All Japan. Bolen has some interesting power moves and an okay finisher (swinging powerslam) and uses them to dominate Dux in the latter stages of the match. Dux gets the cheap school boy rollup for the apparent upset finish. This was a total letdown from the awesome opener.
KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai vs Osamu Nishimura & Ryuji Hijikata
Dark Kingdom is such a good name, but the team does nothing for me. They really are a poor man's BULLET CLUB with nothing interesting to offer. They cheat yet their opponents Nishimura and Hijikata are just as bland in this match. Common sense would dictate that the faces get a hot tag and at least an attempt at a win but no KENSO ends the match with a running knee completely out of left field. I am not a fan of this.
Dark Kingdom is such a good name, but the team does nothing for me. They really are a poor man's BULLET CLUB with nothing interesting to offer. They cheat yet their opponents Nishimura and Hijikata are just as bland in this match. Common sense would dictate that the faces get a hot tag and at least an attempt at a win but no KENSO ends the match with a running knee completely out of left field. I am not a fan of this.
Hikaru Sato & Ultimo Dragon vs Xceed (Shiozaki & Miyahara)
Forget their partners, Go Shiozaki and Hikaru Sato put on some good work here. They included those little nuances that make wrestling so awesome, like how Shiozaki sells the injured arm off a chop even though he proved to have the better chops earlier in the match. Sato did everything in his power to rip Shiozaki's arm off with an assist to the crazy lucha submissions of Ultimo Dragon. The match was not spectacular but was solid. Shiozaki claimed the win with a Go Flasher on Sato.
GAORA TV Title
SUSHI© vs Soma Takao
This is SUSHI's first defense of the vacated GAORA TV Title (sixth defense of the title ever by my count) he won in November. SUSHI is the third holder of the title and is in such Hall of Fame company as Seiya Sanada and Renee Dupree. Takao brought some DDT craziness with him to the match but came up a bit short. There was a lot of garbage wrestling here and not much of a story to tell. They did some brawling out side and Takao dropped a pan from the second story on top of SUSHI's head. They did the rollup reversal spot for several two counts and SUSHI ended it with what I assume is the Katsuo no Ipponzuri (Fisherman 's Buster small package).
Burning (Akayama & Kanemaru) & Masao Inoue vs Masanobu Fuchi, Suwama & Taiyo Kea
The notes on the YouTube video note this is Masanobu Fuchi's 60th birthday celebration. The match is worked very smart with everyone getting a rest when Fuchi is in wrestling a slower style and then the match picks up when his partners come in. At one point Fuchi is spike piledriven on the floor and then garners more heat from a simple bodyslam. Fuchi kicks out of an Akayama Exploder and pins Inoue with the third small package. A 26 minute match prominently featuring a 60 year old is never going to be a five star classic but this was harmless fun and a fitting way to honor an AJPW legend.
AJPW Triple Crown Title
Akebono© vs Takao Omori [***]
Akebono is the 47th Triple Crown champion making his second or third defense depending on how you view the 11/24 show against Joe Doering. I thought this was a worthy title fight where firey Omori had a sound strategy to battle the power and sheer bulk of the champ. Omori used the tried and true method of chopping down the big man's legs and had some success in doing so. In the end Akebono was simply too much for the challenger and Omori was put away with the Yokozuna Impact. They had a good story in place and in some ways were successful however the match did not have the impact I would have hoped for.
Overall Thoughts
There isn't a whole lot to go out of your way for here. I am high on the opener and have thumbs in the middle leaning up for the main event. The Fuchi match is a nice moment considering it is his 60th birthday celebration, otherwise leave this card alone.
Akebono is the 47th Triple Crown champion making his second or third defense depending on how you view the 11/24 show against Joe Doering. I thought this was a worthy title fight where firey Omori had a sound strategy to battle the power and sheer bulk of the champ. Omori used the tried and true method of chopping down the big man's legs and had some success in doing so. In the end Akebono was simply too much for the challenger and Omori was put away with the Yokozuna Impact. They had a good story in place and in some ways were successful however the match did not have the impact I would have hoped for.
Overall Thoughts
There isn't a whole lot to go out of your way for here. I am high on the opener and have thumbs in the middle leaning up for the main event. The Fuchi match is a nice moment considering it is his 60th birthday celebration, otherwise leave this card alone.
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