Yujiro Yamamoto vs. Maori Kawashima
Quite the hate filled 3 minute match. Yamamoto was clearly there to put some punishment on Kawashima, who gave as much as he could. Kawashima had a pretty cool Shining Spin Wheel Kick and good energy, though he gets smacked and beaten by Yamamoto pretty fast.
Shin Suzuki vs. Takahiro Tababa
Pretty neat undercard match. Never seen or heard of Shin Suzuki but he looked like a good wrestler. Suzuki did a bunch of tight, no-nonsense pro style grappling against Tababas shootstyle and he had some impressive holds. He also gave Tababa opportunities to do nifty counters. Not a ton of Tababa hard hitting but he does lay in some nasty kicks. The finish was really cool as Suzuki slips beneath to try for a neat Gory Special variation but Tababa breaks out and chokes him out cool, just saying ‚fuck you‘ to that llave bullshit.
Masayuki Kono vs. Yoshihiro Horaguchi
I don‘t think I‘ve ever seen anyone praise Masayuki Kono. He is not horrible, but there‘s also nothing remarkable about him except that he is tall, I guess. As such and with him being the higher ranked wrestler having spent an eternity doing nothing in AJPW and W-1, this match ended up being forgettable.
Manabu Hara vs. Yujiro Yamamoto
First 7 minutes were pretty great. Both guys engage in some really nice slick U-Style matwork, and Hara was really vicious when the opportunity presented itself. Yamamoto is so great on the mat, and their match up felt like a worthy heir to the Ishikawa/Ikeda stuff. Insertion of pro-style moves like irish whips was a bit jarring as I wanted them to go full BattlARTS epic. They get back on track though and deliver a good finish with both guys busting out the cool suplexes and submissions you expect and blast each other with some really stiff blows and headbutts. Not quite the classic that I feel they have in them, but a very good match all in all.
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