#284
Takumi Soya Debut Match: Manabu Soya vs. Takumi Soya 8:19
Shuji Kondo & Hiroshi Yamato vs. MAZADA & Super Hate 5:40
World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Kaz Hayashi vs. Minoru 21:32 of 22:08. Nowhere near their epic 3/14/09 match, but certainly a well worked action packed encounter. Hayashi dominated the first half, always being a step or two ahead of Minoru, and countering most of Minoru's offense into his own impressive moves. Minoru did manage to hurt Hayashi's arm early, but this played almost no part in the second half of the match, where Tanaka came on really strong, getting one near fall after another with his spectacular moves, including an avalanche style fisherman buster and a firebird splash. By the time we totally forgot about Hayashi's bad arm, Minoru hit his armbar to take the title. I felt the work itself was excellent, but the structuring let them down, as it was kind of two separate matches with the conclusion being a good one for the first but not so much the second. ***3/4
#285
Heavyweight Battle Royal 13:53
Keiji Muto & Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki vs. Suwama & Seiya Sanada & KAI 16:45
Osamu Nishimura vs. Hiroshi Yamato 6:11
Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo & NOSAWA Rongai & BUSHI vs. TARU & Minoru & MAZADA & Super Hate 7:46
Ryota Hama & Yasufumi Nakanoue vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 9:41
Suwama vs. KAI 8:46
Keiji Muto & Minoru Suzuki vs. Masakatsu Funaki & AKIRA 16:32
Asia Tag Title Match: Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Tamon Honda 12:32
World Tag Title Match: Taiyo Kea & Akebono vs. KENSO & KONO 13:20
Junior Heavyweight Battle Royal 10:22
#286
Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. KAI & Hiroshi Yamato 13:26
Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Minoru & MAZADA 9:57
Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki & Akebono vs. TARU & KONO & Super Hate 12:05
#287
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Suwama vs. Taiyo Kea 34:11 of 35:49. Big time offensive match, though I've seen a lot of the moves look more impressive elsewhere. It was a lengthy, hard fought match where they showed good stamina, keeping a decent to high pace and putting a beating on one another, although it meandered badly. They'd start to tell a story, for instance Suwama ripping the tape from Kea's ribs and working them over with a manjigatame and whip into the guard rail or Kea injuring Suwama's neck by dropping him on the guard rail, but then they'd leave it to do some more moves. Suwama would go back to selling his neck, but Kea would never really go after it again. Overall, it had the ingredients for a memorable match, but neither guy could structure it so something truly compelling would happen. ***1/4
Ryota Hama vs. Takumi Soya 5:03
Dragon Kid & BUSHI & Power Pro Kamen vs. Minoru & Susumu Yokosuka & KAGETORA 14:15. A decent but far from memorable opener. It was a somewhat lighthearted athletic match that was all across the board. Power Pro Mask appears to be Sanada in sort of a Pegasus Kid style outfit. He was the star of the match, not doing much outstanding, but being very solid. Minoru was a spectator, hardly being involved apart from posing near the ropes to keep the opponents from coming in and making saves. Dragon was spectacular as always, doing his Frankensteiner off the shoulders of BUSHI who was sitting on the top and his ultra huracanrana for the finish, but also didn't log much ring time. BUSHI was sloppy. KAGETORA & Yokosuka were fine, but didn't really distinguish themselves beyond taking the opponent's moves pretty well. **1/4
Mayumi Ozaki & Meiko Satomura & Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai & Carlos Amano & Chikayo Nagashima 13:48
Kaz Hayashi & TAKA Michinoku & NOSAWA Rongai vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & TAJIRI & BxB Hulk 13:46. I'd really like to see a Kaz vs. BxB singles match, so I'm very happy to report that this pairing delivered. Unfortunately, those two were the only ones who acted like they cared. If there was any effort, it was to be entertaining while doing as little as possible. Light and light hearted were apt descriptions of the majority of the match. It was wrestled as though they were going at least 25 minutes and they were just killing time warming up, but instead it was quite short and just ended. *1/2
Hiroshi Yamato vs. YAMATO 11:48
Shuji Kondo & KAI vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki 15:52. Totally a tale of two matches. The two great wrestlers Kondo & Doi were able to adjust to new opposition with no problem and wrestle at the same high level they do against the usual suspects. They were dynamic, had timing and instant chemistry so they were able to develop the sequences and counters. KAI vs. Tanizaki was the exact opposite. They wrestled each other in the most basic manner, just standing or laying there while their opponent did their move rather than actually working with one another. Kondo & Doi were able to get quality work out of Tanizaki & KAI, so the match was mostly good, even if neither of the later impressed me in the least. It heated up early when Kondo refused to return Doi's clean break, igniting a heated slap and elbow exchange. KAI & Tanizaki weren't able to maintain the level though, and it wasn't until the final 4 or 5 minutes that the match found a balance and kept something toward consistent quality. Overall, it was a good match that had moments of excellence. We really need to see a Kondo vs. Doi singles match. I really liked Kondo's bulldogging headlock and jumping neckbreaker drop combination. ***
Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Akebono & Don Fujii & Ryota Hama 16:09
Keiji Muto & CIMA & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Suwama & Masato Yoshino & The Great Sasuke 17:54. The young guys did all the work. CIMA vs. Yoshino was responsible for at least 85% of the quality here. They were really good, working at triple the speed of the others and putting together some nice sequences, but they got almost no help. Muto, Liger, & Sasuke were just there, and Suwama was trying hard but didn't seem right. It looked like he was injured as he wasn't bending at the waste. I've seen him work well with juniors before, but today he was lumbering around so his effort really wasn't helping. Not a bad match, but totally forgettable. **
#288
Kaz Hayashi vs. Shuji Kondo vs. Minoru 10:21
TARU vs. KENSO 15:25
Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 30:00
#289
Suwama & KAI vs. Minoru Suzuki & Hiroshi Yamato 18:11
World Tag Title Match: Taiyo Kea & Akebono vs. KONO & Joe Doering 18:42
Keiji Muto & Shinjiro Otani vs. Masakatsu Funaki & AKIRA 16:40
#290 3/14/11
Taiyo Kea & Shawn Spears & Jake O'Reilly vs. TARU & Joe Doering & Super Hate 7:18
KENSO vs. KONO 12:58
Kaz Hayashi vs. Shuji Kondo 20:32 of 23:15. These guys compliment each other perfectly. They have awesome chemistry and are exceptionally creative. If you don't expect this match to live up to the standard of their huge Ryogoku PPV matches, you'll accept this as an excellent match in it's own right that, while not arguably the match of the year like those two, will certainly be top 15 if not 10. It was a great showcase for Kaz's athleticism with fantastic counters and a good but all too inconsistent story. Kaz hit a lionsault early, but when he tried for a second one Kondo got up and dropkicked him in the back of the leg as he was ready to spring off the ropes. Kondo then injured Kaz's knee Dragon screwing him in the ropes, and went Muto on him with a series of Dragon screws and kneecap dropkicks. Kondo's knee attack was mainly in the first third of the match, which was somewhat problematic even though Kaz kept selling his knee in between flying moves. It wasn't so much that Kondo moved on to other offense, it was that he really didn't have all that much offense in the remainder of the match because (they were trying to get Kaz over in the loss and ) Kaz did such a fantastic job of countering him. Kondo's power is so imposing that Kaz had to keep pulling athletic counters out of his ass to keep King Kong from ripping him in half. He came back by backflipping a kneecap dropkick then hitting a rebound elbow and really took over when he draped Kondo on the top rope and knocked him to the floor with a final cut. The best example of the kind of well developed action that was on display here was a sequence where Kondo tried an avalanche style powerslam but it was turned into a final cut then Frankensteiner then powerbomb before Kaz finally made a midair adjustment to DDT Kondo! Later, Kondo also caught a swandive huracanrana, but Kaz turned the powerbomb into a sunset flip. Kondo hit a power move here and there, landed a big lariat or a heavy strike, but he wasn't able to keep Kaz down for any length of time or get on top of him except when he nearly won with a modified Texas cloverleaf. Still, when Kondo got Kaz down a second time and won with the 1/2 crab, it kind of seemed abrupt. The match would have worked much better if Kondo at least used a knee move to set it up. ****
#291 3/21/11
Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 30:00
Suwama & Ryota Hama & KAI vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Akebono & Minoru Suzuki 16:30
Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI vs. Minoru & MAZADA 8:58
Zodiac vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue 5:07
Manabu Soya vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue
Ryota Hama & Zodiac vs. Shawn Spears & Jake O'Reilly 11:14
Taiyo Kea & Takumi Soya vs. TARU & Joe Doering 8:02
Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo & BUSHI vs. Minoru & MAZADA & Super Hate 10:54
Triple Crown Next Challenger 3-way match: Akebono vs. KENSO vs. KONO 7:42
Suwama & Seiya Sanada & KAI vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki & Hiroshi Yamato 14:05
Masanobu Fuchi & Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI
Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Shawn Spears & Jake O'Reilly
Minoru Suzuki vs. KAI
Keiji Muto & Masakatsu Funaki & AKIRA vs. TARU, Rene Dupree & MAZADA
Special Referee TARU: Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori vs. KONO & Joe Doering
KENSO & Zodiac vs. Suwama & Ryota Hama
Team 246 vs. Junior Stars: Koji Kanemoto & Minoru vs. Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo 23:45. The addition of New Japan's Koji Kanemoto as a regular in All Japan's junior division is an exciting one because having a 4th big gun allows the stars to be programmed in tag. It does squeeze their most promising young star KAI out to some extent, but giving him his first title run a few months later more than made up for that. They did a slow building match in Kanemoto's kick and submission style, mainly exchanging strikes and working Minoru's left knee for the body of the match. It was good stuff, but a bit underwhelming, especially considering the talent involved. This should have been a huge match for Kanemoto, but he wasn't on top of his game, and didn't seem to be on the level with the other three. The match really took off in the final 6 minutes, with everyone rolling out their hot moves. It was suddenly very exciting stuff, but it kind of existed apart from the rest of the match. Overall, a nice match, but not really at the level you'd expect from a main event with these 4. ***1/2
Masanobu Fuchi & Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Zodiac & Yasufumi Nakanoue 5:08
Kaz Hayashi & KAI vs. Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI 8:58
Big Van Vader & Jesse White & Ryota Hama vs. TARU & Rene Dupree & MAZADA 12:16
Asia Tag Title Match: Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 32:51
Keiji Muto vs. Daichi Hashimoto 10:18
Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata & Jushin Thunder Liger 8:26
World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Minoru vs. Shuji Kondo 22:05. A really nice match, though not one of the great epic Puroresu Love junior title matches. They continued the theme of Kondo working Minoru's left knee. Minoru countered into an early Minoru special, and proceeded to work the arm. What I liked about the structuring is they worked the body work spots in as counters to the big spots and the big spots in as counters to the bad knee/arm spots, so the style was more dynamic and less predictable. What I didn't like is the ref was counting so slowly for every near fall. I mean, it was practically Tirantes giving the heel the advantage speed throughout, which I felt was just annoyingly exaggerated rather than the intended more dramatic. They did all their big spots and the bad appendage led to the finish, but I didn't feel the style was as good for Kondo as it is with Hayashi, and they weren't countering each other at that level. ***3/4
World Tag Title Match: KONO & Joe Doering vs. Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori 21:15
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Suwama vs. KENSO 29:25
Block B: Seiya Sanada [2] vs. Joe Doering [0] 9:36
Block A: Ryota Hama [0] vs. Takao Omori [2] 8:53
Block B: KENSO [0] vs. Minoru Suzuki [2] 14:25
Block A: KONO [0] vs. Yuji Nagata [2] 13:50
Block B: Taiyo Kea [1] vs. Jun Akiyama [1] 30:00
Block A: Suwama [2] vs. Masakatsu Funaki [0] 18:57
Block A: Ryota Hama [0] vs. KONO [2] 12:07
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [2] vs. Takao Omori [2] 14:01
Seiya Sanada & KAI vs. Manabu Soya & Hiroshi Yamato 16:16
Block B: Joe Doering [0] vs. Jun Akiyama [3] 10:14
Block B: Taiyo Kea [3] vs. Minoru Suzuki [2] 24:33
Block A: Suwama [2] vs. Yuji Nagata [4] 23:13
Block A: KONO [2] vs. Takao Omori [4] 12:19
Block B: Joe Doering [0] vs. Minoru Suzuki [4] 16:09
Taiyo Kea & BUSHI vs. Manabu Soya & Kaz Hayashi 14:34
Block A: Suwama [4] vs. Ryota Hama [0] 12:25
Block B: Seiya Sanada [4] vs. Jun Akiyama [5] 22:05. A lot better on paper than in actuality, as is typical of Akiyama. Sanada was game, but Akiyama seemed uncomfortable, perhaps a bit injured or just not quite in the mood. I can live with him mainly doing elbows and knees, especially when he's in with a wrestler such as Sanada who has some exciting offense, but what's annoying is he makes no effort to structure the match or get anything out of Sanada. So it just winds up being Akiyama doing his strikes and Sanada answering with his highspots, without much thought put into the transition. It was a bit too obvious how they were faking things early, but the pace, impact, and intensity picked up in the second half, and it turned into a quality match due to Sanada's efforts. It was one of those matches where, watching the two men wrestler, you couldn't find a reason for the veteran to go over, but absolutely knew they would. **1/2
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [4] vs. Yuji Nagata [4] 13:07. A match I've wanted to see for a long time because their styles mesh so well. It wasn't quite as UWF leaning as I hoped, more a stiff technical pro style match where Nagata worked Funaki's left arm. They had some nice exchanges, but otherwise Nagata totally dominated. It seemed to be building well enough, but then they went home early with Funaki hitting a right high kick for the KO. It was a great shoot style finish, but the kick was nothing extraordinary so it didn't quite translate. ***
Block B: Taiyo Kea [5] vs. Seiya Sanada [6] 18:37
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [4] vs. KONO [4] 12:44
Manabu Soya & Shuji Kondo vs. Joe Doering & Minoru 10:58
Block A: Ryota Hama [0] vs. Yuji Nagata [6] 11:18
Block A: Suwama [6] vs. Takao Omori [4] 16:56
Block B: Minoru Suzuki [6] vs. Jun Akiyama [5] 19:21
Masanobu Fuchi & Manabu Soya vs. Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi 13:12
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [6] vs. Ryota Hama [0] 8:43
Block B: Taiyo Kea [5] vs. Joe Doering [4] 8:44
Block A: Yuji Nagata [8] vs. Takao Omori [4] 12:14
Block A: Suwama [6] vs. KONO [6] 15:00
Block B: Seiya Sanada [8] vs. Minoru Suzuki [6] 16:06
Champion Carnival Final: Yuji Nagata vs. Seiya Sanada 22:44. A basic match between unfamiliar wrestlers that was carried by their strong effort and superior individual ability. The chemistry was far from great, and it was more a match where Nagata did his kicks, arm work, and suplexes and Sanada came back with his flashy highspots than something where they really set each other up, but it was always entertaining. Sanada is All Japan's hot new star, and he quickly assumed the underdog role against the interloping 00's NJPW ace. Sanada tried to stand up to Nagata early, but was getting pounded badly, even sustaining a minor nose bleed. Sanada came on when he started wrestling his style rather than Nagata's, showing a lot of impressive moves. Nagata was overpowering Sanada with his huge strikes, and ready to level him with a monster kick the second Sanada made it back to his feet. Sanada looked impressive, but this is the beginning of his first big singles push and you never got the feeling he could win. ***1/2
Disc 1
2010 Champion Carnival league digest
4/11/10 Tokyo JCB Hall
2010 Champion Carnival Semifinal Match: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Masayuki Kono 13:12
2010 Champion Carnival Semifinal Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Suwama 16:46
2010 Champion Carnival Final Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Masakatsu Funaki 13:37
4/8/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Block A: Ryota Hama [0] vs. Takao Omori [2] 8:53
Block A: KONO [0] vs. Yuji Nagata [2] 13:50
Disc 2
Block A: Suwama [2] vs. Masakatsu Funaki [0] 18:57
Block B: Seiya Sanada [2] vs. Joe Doering [0] 9:36
Block B: KENSO [0] vs. Minoru Suzuki [2] 14:25
Block B: Taiyo Kea [1] vs. Jun Akiyama [1] 30:00
4/9/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Block A: Ryota Hama [0] vs. KONO [2] 12:07
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [2] vs. Takao Omori [2] 14:01
Block A: Suwama [2] vs. Yuji Nagata [4] 23:13
Block B: Joe Doering [0] vs. Jun Akiyama [3] 10:14
Block B: Taiyo Kea [3] vs. Minoru Suzuki [2] 24:33
Disc 3 4/10/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Block A: KONO [2] vs. Takao Omori [4] 12:19
Block A: Suwama [4] vs. Ryota Hama [0] 12:25
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [4] vs. Yuji Nagata [4] 13:07
Block B: Joe Doering [0] vs. Minoru Suzuki [4] 16:09
Block B: Seiya Sanada [4] vs. Jun Akiyama [5] 22:05
4/12/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [4] vs. KONO [4] 12:44
Block A: Ryota Hama [0] vs. Yuji Nagata [6] 11:18
Block A: Suwama [6] vs. Takao Omori [4] 16:56
Disc 4
Block B: Taiyo Kea [5] vs. Seiya Sanada [6] 18:37
Block B: Minoru Suzuki [6] vs. Jun Akiyama [5] 19:21
4/13/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Block A: Masakatsu Funaki [6] vs. Ryota Hama [0] 8:43
Block A: Yuji Nagata [8] vs. Takao Omori [4] 12:14
Block A: Suwama [6] vs. KONO [6] 15:00
Block B: Taiyo Kea [5] vs. Joe Doering [4] 8:44
Block B: Seiya Sanada [8] vs. Minoru Suzuki [6] 16:06
Champion Carnival Final: Yuji Nagata vs. Seiya Sanada 22:44
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Kikutaro 6:14
Masanobu Fuchi vs. NakAnoe Yasufumi 4:50
Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki & Hikaru Sato vs. TARU & KONO & MAZADA 11:35
KENSO vs. Super Hate 7:36
Seiya Sanada vs. Manabu Soya 17:06
Suwama & Shuji Kondo & Hiroshi Yamato vs. Ryota Hama & Super Crazy & BUSHI 16:18
Junior Tag League Final: Koji Kanemoto & Minoru vs. Kaz Hayashi & KAI 30:45
KENSO vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue 10:24
KAI & BUSHI vs. Minoru & MAZADA 10:03
Takao Omori vs. Ryota Hama 9:06
Akebono vs. Rene Dupree 3:41
Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki vs. TARU & KONO 11:32
Suwama & Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya & KAI 25:35
Battle Royal 9:34
Masanobu Fuchi & Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama & BUSHI 10:42
Shuji Kondo & Hiroshi Yamato vs. Minoru & MAZADA 8:20
Minoru Suzuki & Hikaru Sato vs. TARU & Rene Dupree 8:50
Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya & Yasufumi Nakanoue vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi & Ryuichi Kawakami 12:40
Keiji Muto & KENSO vs. KONO & Joe Doering 12:48
World Junior Heavyweight Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Kaz Hayashi vs. KAI 13:23
Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi 22:42
Ryota Hama & BUSHI vs. Manabu Soya & Yasufumi Nakanoue 9:40
Masanobu Fuchi & Takao Omori vs. Shuji Kondo & Hiroshi Yamato 13:03
Lumberjack Deathmatch: KENSO vs. Super Hate 6:36
Kaz Hayashi & KAI vs. Minoru & MAZADA 15:21
Seiya Sanada vs. Taiyo Kea 11:27
Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki & Akebono vs. TARU & Joe Doering & Rene Dupree 8:56
Suwama vs. KONO 21:32
Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yasufumi Nakanoueno 6:13
Joe Doering vs. Rene Dupree 8:50
World Junior Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Ladder Match: Shuji Kondo vs. Hiroshi Yamato vs. BUSHI 7:39
World Tag Title Decision Advancement Match: Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama 14:21
Great Muta & KENSO & TAJIRI vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki & KAI 16:30
Suwama & Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Yuji Nagata & Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 26:46
Hiroshi Yamato & Yasufumi Nakanoueno vs. BUSHI & Kazushi Miyamoto 5:18
Masanobu Fuchi vs. Minoru Suzuki 5:35
Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori vs. Joe Doering & Rene Dupree 7:48
World Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Shuji Kondo vs. KAI 25:41. Kondo did a great job of carrying KAI to his best singles match. He harnessed KAI's athleticism and got him to give a much more thoughtful and mature performance without actually having to downplay that strong suit. Kondo was putting a beating on KAI early with his strikes, but knew he had to stop KAI from using his superior athleticism to turn the tide, so he attacked his left knee throughout, starting with a kneebreaker on the table. KAI was often his own worst enemy, as he couldn't seem to find a way to avoid using the bad knee offensively. Whether it was a jumping knee or a backbreaker, even hitting the canvas hard on his frog splash, KAI was never able to give himself any reprieve from the pain. KAI made a big effort to always be selling, though his mannerisms were a bit contrived. As the match progressed, they did more of the excellent power vs. flying counters Kondo is the master of setting up. They never forgot the bad knee though. In fact, KAI would often counter to take control, but his knee would betray him, allowing Kondo to reclaim the advantage. In the end, they incorporated all their big moves into the context of a well structured and thought out match, delivering a spectacular match that never felt like spectacle or even the least bit excessive. ****
Asia Tag Title Match: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya 21:22
Kyotaro Puroresu Debut: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kyotaro 9:57
World Tag Title Decision Match: Great Muta & KENSO vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama 8:54
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Suwama vs. Yuji Nagata 30:13. A good match, but I was certainly hoping for more. It was epic in length, but in actuality, Suwama pretty much killed the first 12 minutes then they did a pretty standard Nagata match. Nagata was really good as always, but they didn't work together so much as just do their own usual thing. The problem here was Suwama wasn't able to bring much to the match or really do anything beyond take Nagata's regular assortment of kicks and submissions. Suwama threw in a bunch of backdrops in the 2nd half, but really the only thing that made this stand out as a major title match was the sick slap exchange. ***
Masanobu Fuchi vs. MAZADA 7:08
Ryota Hama & Yaufumi NakAnoeno vs. Yuji Okabayashi & Ryuichi Kawakami 11:18
Akebono & So Shun vs. Joe Doering & Rene Dupree 4:07
KENSO vs. Takao Omori 13:36
Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo & Minoru vs. KAI & Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI 16:53. A good match because there was no attempt to make it better. They did some nice purolucha, and the match was best when they were running around, with KAI being the spark plug. KAI's team mostly did their moves, while the veterans were solid but lacking fire and motivation. Of the three, Kondo did the best job of looking into it, but he was barraging the opposition with punches then taking some running moves without really getting into his countering. ***
Manabu Soya vs. Daisuke Sekimoto 12:48
Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki vs. Taiyo Kea & Seiya Sanada 27:26
Yasufumi Nakanoueno vs. So Shun 6:16
Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Manabu Soya & BUSHI 12:15
Akebono & Ryota Hama vs. Joe Doering & Rene Dupree 5:56
Masakatsu Funaki & Hiroshi Yamato vs. Minoru Suzuki & MAZADA 13:51
World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: KAI vs. Minoru 24:25. Minoru established his style technical match immediately, attacking KAI's arm to set up his various armbars and having KAI come back attacking his knee. It was nice, well focused stuff, but they couldn't either work KAI's style into it or transition off the mat without scrapping the style they were doing. 2/3 of the way through the match, they just got up and suddenly threw an urgent barrage of highspots at each other. The match continued in that vain for the duration, never going back to the established injuries and not taking advantage of KAI's flying despite it suddenly becoming spotty. I felt Minoru did a really good job of carrying the match on the mat, but for me it just fell apart when they tried to do a big climax that had nothing to do with anything. ***1/4
World Tag Title Match: Great Muta & KENSO vs. Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori 16:17
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Suwama vs. Seiya Sanada 28:00. Very consistent title match with Sanada proving to the surprise of no one that he belongs at this level. It was Suwama's match, dominating through methodically working Sanada's bad right elbow and mixing some heavy lariats and strikes in, but these two complemented each other well. Sanada's energetic athletic offense was a nice change of pace, and brought a different dimension to the action. Sanada wasn't doing himself any favors, as his repeated elbow strikes and even his no touch missle kick were doing as much damage to his own elbow as Suwama was. It was all very professional and well worked, but it wasn't particularly dramatic because Sanada was behind the entire match and you never felt like he could even get lucky. ***1/2
Osamu Nishimura Return Match: Masanobu Fuchi & Osamu Nishimura vs. Yasufumi Nakanoueno & So Shun 10:53
Minoru & BUSHI vs. MAZADA & BLACK BUSHI 11:33
Takumi Soya Return Match: Masakatsu Funaki & Takumi Soya vs. Joe Doering & Rene Dupree 8:42
KENSO vs. Takao Omori 7:57
Akebono & Ryota Hama vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 11:32
Suwama & Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo vs. Taiyo Kea & Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya 29:26
World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: KAI vs. Hiroshi Yamato 22:26
Takumi Soya vs. Soshun 4:26
Lee Che Gyong vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue 7:39
Three Way Dance: KENSO vs. Masanobu Fuchi vs. Ryota Hama 10:32
Takao Omori & Tomoya Adachi vs. MAZADA & Rene Dupree 11:16
Akebono & BUSHI vs. BLACK BUSHI & Joe Doering 12:11
Captain's Fall Ten Man: Kaz Hayashi & Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru & Shuji Kondo & Suwama [C] vs. Hiroshi Yamato & KAI & Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada [C] & Taiyo Kea 30:38
Ryota Hama vs. Takumi Soya 7:10
Masanobu Fuchi & Takao Omori & Yasufumi Nakanoueno vs. KENSO & MAZADA & Tomoya 19:39
BUSHI vs. BLACK BUSHI 10:30
Akebono vs. Lee Che Gyong vs. Joe Doering & Rene Dupree 7:26
Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru vs. Taiyo Kea & KAI & Hiroshi Yamato 13:18
Asia Tag Title Match: Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo 25:55
ALL TOGETHER Opening Match ~ SUNRISE OF J: Kota Ibushi & Taiji Ishimori & BUSHI & Hiroshi Yamato vs. Tiger Mask IV & Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo & Ricky Marvin 10:05
JUNIOR ONE NIGHT CARNIVAL: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi & Kotaro Suzuki & Katsuhiko Nakajima & KAI vs. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & KENTA & Genba Hirayanagi 15:07
ONE NIGHT REUNION: Jushin Thunder Liger & Masakatsu Funaki & Takuma Sano vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi & Atsushi Aoki 12:47
NO FEAR! GO AHEAD!: Kensuke Sasaki & Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori 15:44
BELIEVE THE POWER OF "Prowrestling!": Keiji Muto & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka 14:58
FIGHTING FOR FUTURE: Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Mohammed Yone & Manabu Soya & Yujiro Takahashi 11:10
OVER THE BORDER: Akitoshi Saito & Togi Makabe vs. Taiyo Kea & Hirooki Goto 9:55
Destroyer Cup Battle Royal: Hideo Saito & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo & Takaaki Watanabe & Hiromu Takahashi & KUSHIDA & Tomoaki Honma & Super Strong Machine & Jun Nishikawa & Satoshi Kajiwara & Kento Miyahara & Lee Che Gyong & Takumi Soya & So Shun & Yasufumi Nakanoueno & MAZADA & Masanobu Fuchi & Rene Dupree & Joe Doering & Zack Sabre Jr & Masao Inoue & Yoshinari Ogawa & Akira Taue & Kentaro Shiga & BLACK BUSHI & King Fale 11:54
MIDSUMMER ENCOUNTER IN BUDOKAN: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuji Nagata & Osamu Nishimura & Wataru Inoue vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama & Takeshi Morishima & Yutaka Yoshie 11:20
ALL TOGETHER NOW!: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Suwama & Go Shiozaki vs. Takashi Sugiura & KENSO & Shinsuke Nakamura 22:50
Suwama & Hiroshi Yamato vs. Jun Akiyama & Atsushi Aoki 16:28
Yasufumi Nakanoueno & So Shun vs. Takumi Soya & Lee Che Gyong 8:06
Masanobu Fuchi & BUSHI & Jimmy Yang vs. MAZADA & BLACK BUSHI & Hikaru Sato 12:44
Masakatsu Funaki & Akebono & Ryota Hama vs. KENSO & Dark Ozz & Dark Cuervo 2:11
Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori 18:27
Junior Heavyweight League A Block: Kaz Hayashi vs. Minoru 12:21
Junior Heavyweight League B Block: Shuji Kondo vs. Koji Kanemoto 13:28
Junior Heavyweight League A Block: KAI vs. Kenny Omega 18:07
Junior Heavyweight League Block B: Shuji Kondo [4] vs. Hikaru Sato [4] 9:30
Junior Heavyweight League Block A: Kaz Hayashi [4] vs. BUSHI [2] 11:51
Junior Heavyweight League Block B: Hiroshi Yamato [4] vs. Koji Kanemoto [6] 9:31
Junior Heavyweight League Block A: KAI [5] vs. BLACK BUSHI [4] 7:05
Minoru & MAZADA vs. Jimmy Yang & Kenny Omega 9:46
Akebono & Ryota Hama & Yasufumi Nakanoueno vs. KENSO & Takumi Soya & So Shun 17:29
Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki & Takao Omori vs. Taiyo Kea & Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya 19:01
Junior Heavyweight League Final: Koji Kanemoto vs. KAI 22:16
Takumi Soya vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue 5:48
BUSHI vs. BLACK BUSHI 5:08
Koji Kanemoto & Minoru vs. Hiroshi Yamato & Shuji Kondo 10:40
Akebono & Masakatsu Funaki & Ryota Hama vs. Joe Doering & Masayuki Kono & Osamu Nishimura 11:02
Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada & Taiyo Kea vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi & Takao Omori 16:58
Great Muta & Kaz Hayashi & KENSO vs. Dark Cuervo & Dark Ozz & MAZADA 12:16
KAI & Suwama vs. Jun Akiyama & Ricky Marvin 19:13
Shuji Kondo & Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI vs. Kaz Hayashi & Minoru & BLACK BUSHI 9:03
Masanobu Fuchi & Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori vs. Osamu Nishimura & MAZADA & Takumi Soya 11:38
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Masayuki Kono 8:10
Akebono & Ryota Hama vs. Big Daddy [Viscera] & Joe Doering 8:52
Asia Tag Title Match: Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 24:18
World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: KAI vs. Kenny Omega 20:43
World Tag Title Match: Great Muta & KENSO vs. Dark Ozz & Dark Cuervo 14:44
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Suwama vs. Jun Akiyama 30:35
Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Yasufumi Nakanoue 15:03
Joe Doering vs. Masayuki Kono 7:52
BUSHI & Makoto & Ultimo Dragon vs. Cheerleader Melissa & Dark Dragon & MAZADA 17:18
Great Muta & TAJIRI vs. KAI & Suwama 18:40
Bambikiller & Big Daddy vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama 8:17
World Tag Title Match: Dark Cuervo & Dark Ozz vs. Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo 14:51
Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo & Suwama vs. Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada & Masayuki Kono 24:55
Cheerleader Melissa vs. Makoto 4:51
Dark Cuervo & Dark Ozz vs. KAI & Yasufumi Nakanoue 10:25
BUSHI & Ryota Hama vs. Bambikiller & MAZADA 13:34
Akebono vs. Big Daddy 3:28
Keiji Muto & Masakatsu Funaki & Ultimo Dragon vs. Dark Dragon & Joe Doering & TAJIRI 15:56
Hiroshi Yamato vs. Hikaru Sato 10:05
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: Masanobu Fuchi & Taiyo Kea [5] vs. Kaz Hayashi & KENSO [0] 12:13
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: Strong BJ Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi [4] vs. Big Daddy & Joe Doering [2] 8:48
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: Manabu Soya & Takao Omori [8] vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama [2] 12:32
AKIRA & Starbuck & TAJIRI vs. BUSHI & Keiji Muto & Shuji Kondo 13:48
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: Masakatsu Funaki & Masayuki Kono [4] vs. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka [2] 13:48
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: KAI & Seiya Sanada [3] vs. Suwama & Takumi Soya [2] 22:01
Three Way Match: Masanobu Fuchi vs. Kikutaro vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue 6:13
Hiroshi Yamato & Shuji Kondo vs. BUSHI & Koji Kanemoto 11:40
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: KAI & Seiya Sanada [7] vs. Kaz Hayashi & KENSO [0] 18:36
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: Akebono & Ryota Hama [6] vs. Big Daddy & Joe Doering [4] 6:24
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: Suwama & Takumi Soya [4] vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Masayuki Kono [4] 21:12
World's Strongest Tag League 2011 Match: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi [8] vs. Manabu Soya & Takao Omori [8] 20:18
AKIRA vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue
2011 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka vs. Masanobu Fuchi & Taiyo Kea
2011 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Kaz Hayashi & KENSO vs. Big Daddy & Joe Doering
2011 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Suwama & Takumi Soya vs. Manabu Soya & Takao Omori
2011 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: KAI & Seiya Sanada vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi
2011 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Masakatsu Funaki & Masayuki Kono vs. Akebono & Ryota Hama
Hiroshi Yamato vs. Hikaru Sato
Jun Akiyama & Kenny Omega & Taiji Ishimori vs. AKIRA & Keiji Muto & Shuji Kondo
2011 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Final: KAI & Seiya Sanada vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Masayuki Kono
Keiji Muto & Rina Takeda & Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Kaz Hayashi & Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo 16:54
Shuji Kondo vs. Takumi Soya 9:15
Hiroshi Yamato & Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Tanaka vs. Akebono & Kikutaro & Yutaka Yoshie 10:11
KAI & Seiya Sanada vs. Masayuki Kono & Yasufumi Nakanoue 16:05
F-1 Tag Title Match: Ryota Hama & Small Riki Choshu vs. Manabu Soya & RG 25:46
Suwama vs. Masanobu Fuchi 20:57
12/24/11
Akebono & Ryota Hama vs. Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada 14:03
Eisa8 & Gurukun Diver & Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kaz Hayashi & KENSO & Yasufumi Nakanoue 17:06
Keiji Muto & Super Delfin vs. Masayuki Kono & Minoru Tanaka 14:32
KAI & Seiya Sanada vs. Shuji Kondo & Suwama 15:48
12/25/11
Hiroshi Yamato & Kaijin Habu Otoko vs. KAI & Menso-re Oyaji 12:25
KENSO vs. Kaz Hayashi 15:55
Shuji Kondo & Suwama & Takumi Soya vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Masayuki Kono & Yasufumi Nakanoue 14:37
Akebono & Keiji Muto & Super Delfin vs. Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada & Takao Omori 13:26