Hitoshi Kumano vs Mitsuhiro Kitamiya
These two put on a good energetic sprint. Kitamiya is in his rookie year and his big moves are limited to a dropkick. Kumano is allowed a wider range of moves and ends the match with a German Suplex Hold.
Genba Hirayanagi vs Kikutaro
This was a comedy match with some decent wrestling found within. Most of Kikutaro's comedy is lost on my due to the language barrier but a large percentage of the fans laughed so it must be a decent gimmick. Hirayanagi had a scary moment where a plancha was slightly mistimed and his head connected with the bottom bar of the guard rail. Genba rolled up Kikutaro after he collapsed presumably from oxygen deprivation.
Daisuke Ikeada vs Masao Inoue
Why did we need a second comedy match in a row. In the midst of their stalling they worked in a couple of decent comedy spots, such as Ikeada irish whipping various people around ringside into Inoue. Overall this was not my type of match especially ending with a Ikeada small package reversal for the pin.
Kenou vs Daisuke Harada vs Taiji Ishimori
I was questioning whether company storylines would be pushed to the side for the memorial show and thankfully that is not the case. On the 5/31 show Kenou attacked Harada after Harada's title defense and that is the driving story in the match. While Ishimori adds a lot of energy and some cool moves to the match, he sticks out as the third wheel taking more floor time than the other two combatants. He had an amazing transition into an Indian Deathlock on one opponent while DDTing the other. This match furthers the Kenou quest for Harada's GHC Junior title by pinning the champion clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring after his sweet suplex. Kenou used the most lackadaisical cover to pin Harada not even hooking the leg. It really looked like he was pinning a jobber on Saturday mornings rather than a champion who you would think would only lose by the skin of his teeth. This match was very entertaining and I am looking forward to the looming Kenou/Harada matchup.
BRAVE (Kotoge, Nakajima & Yone) vs TMDK (Nichols & Haste) & Quiet Storm
As I mentioned in the 5/31 review of the Haste singles match that I knew TMDK were a good tag team and they certainly show it here, working together with impeccable timing. There is one very complex comedy spot with both team members and Yone where Yone manuevers and tricks Haste into clotheslining his partner, which is more along the lines of my type of wrestling comedy compared with the two preceding matches. The more I watch Quiet Storm's power junior stuff the more I like it, my only critique would be to expand the moveset a little. The match was well worked with a nice flow and pace, which makes it an enjoyable match. The Mighty Don't Kneel take the win after one of their nifty double teams. They also take a post match bow to the large Misawa portrait which wins respect with both myself and the live crowd. Recommended if you have 20 minutes of spare time to kill.
Chi Kibou-Gun (Ohara, Taniguchi & Morishima) vs Tenryu, Koshinaka & Ogawa
This was a simple story told well, the younger guys were trying to kill the older team. This broke down to a wild brawl early before settling down to a match. Koshinaka was extremely over and got the biggest pop of the night thus far with his diving hit attack that he hit on everyone as often as he was able. Koshinaka got the pin after a powerbomb. At 64 years old Tenryu took the first heat segment but didn't really do too much overall. Chi Kibou-Gun are great at cheating behind the refs back, even if it feel weird to see so much cheating in Japan. Good match that is worth a look.
No Mercy (Suguira & Takayama) vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Nagata
I knew coming into the match I really liked 3 out of the 4 participants and the fourth, Suguira, I haven't seen a whole lot of to make an educated judgement. This match if full of stiffness and near falls and is great. Sekimoto almost decapitates Suguira with a lariat near the end and the crowd completely buys into the near fall. Suguira takes the match with an Olympic Slam where he almost dumps Sekimoto on his head. Give up watching one of your reality shows for the week and watch this match instead.
Akitoshi Saito vs Naomichi Marufuji
These two put on a pretty good main event really milking the nearfalls at the end. They implored a slow prodding pace with big moves and all in all the match worked for me. Marufuji almost screwed up the finish and had to muscle Saito for the suplex.Marufuji may be growing on me slowly, I am anxiously awaiting his showdown with Nagata for the GHC title. Recommended if a slow prodding pace is not an automatic turnoff. Also note the match is under 20 minutes not the full 30 as the file would indicate.
Final Thoughts
The card from top to bottom isn't great with only the top half far outweighting the bottom half of the card. The No Mercy tag is worth going out of your way to see, the rest is skippable for a casual Puro fan.
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