General Puro Discussion Thread

[Stopspot]

Stopspot's puro adventures
All Japan 2015-03-27
Korakuren Hall​

Watched this over today and yesterday and figured I'd comment on each match.

Kenso vs Naoya Nomura:
I enjoyed this. Far from a perfect match but it was enjoyable. Kenso got to shine a bit as the TV champ and put the rookie through the ringer. Nomura is improving steadily as well and I hope he catches on with the All Japan fans once he is ready.

Big Guns (Zeus & The Bodyguard) vs Kengo Mashimo & Tank Nagai:
Yes please. More of this a thousand times over. These are two teams that have caught my eye since I started with All Japan. I'd love to see them do a longer rivalry with them involving one of the tag belts. Also AJPW needs to sign Zeus to a contract like yesterday.

Akiyama, Kanemaru, Fuchi & Aoyagi vs Omori, Sushi, Hijikata & Nakajamia:
Good multi man match mixing veterans and rookies. Aoyagi is another one of All Japan's rookies and I hope he catches on because this guy can go places. He reminds me of Miyahara in that he can crank up the intensity real fast, not as well as Kento yet, but time will tell.

Evolution (Suwama, Doering & Sato) vs Akebono, Yoshie & Ishii:
Another fun multi man match. This one playing off of the rivalry between the tag champs (Bono & Yoshie, aka team fatties as I call them) and Doering & Suwama and did so well. Not a bad worker in this match, even Bono knows how to play to his size and stature to make it work.

Kotaro Suzuki vs Atsushi Aoki (c) for the Junior Heavyweight title:
Fuck Yes. I loved this. Both these guys are great in ring and it was so much fun in my opinion to watch these guys work the all japan junior style, which is so different from the new japan one. The psychology in Aoki working over Kotaro's back and Kotaro softening Aoki up for a knck out blow was great.

Kento Miyahara vs Go Shiozaki (c) for the triple crown championship:
Stablemate vs stablemate, friend vs friend in a friendly rivalry...well, after a while it didn't seem so friendly. This was just as fun as the above title match if not better. Miyahara has this ability to just make everything intense and Shiozaki stepped up to be on the same level. I marked out so hard around the 15 minute mark when Go finally decides to truly take the match seriously and he just starts beating the shit out of his friend.

Out of the Japanese companies, AJPW is probably my favorite right now because they book a product that I enjoy from start to finish. I am happy that they are finally back on solid footing and slowly getting back up there among the Japanese companies. It is a long road to walk, but they are getting back there.

 

[Bort]

DO NOT insist on chop battles with Yuji Hino:

 

[Stopspot]

M8 you got rekt.

Watched some Champions Carnival last night. Kengo vs Go was real good. Kengo playing a super dickhead and spending the entire match wrecking Go's arm to prevent the lariat. Looking forward to the teased rematch

 

[Bort]

:woohoo:

 

[Bort]

DDT founder/owner/booker Sanshiro Takagi is the new CEO of Wrestle-1. Totally out of left field. That Muto! Still pulling tricks out of his sleeve.

 

[Stopspot]

"How much money can I get out of DDT?" - Mutoh

 

[Bort]

Kotaro Suzuki on-camera practice:



Damn!

 

[Stopspot]

Kotaro da man

 

[Stopspot]

Why on god's green earth are Evolution invading the IGF? Isn't that kind of like invading the Sahara in search of ice?

Better be to bring Daichi Hashimoto to AJPW so Akiyama and Omorii can train him proper.

 

[Bort]

Suwama/Fujita could be good but it won't.

Meanwhile in W-1, Muto's given Sanshiro complete booking power, but they won't do crossovers yet. Sanshiro said he'll try something different with W-1, it won't be DDT-1. It looks like a simple employment, Muto realized they're going nowhere and hired the guy who did an mazing job with DDT. Sanshiro will be working at W-1 offices in the morning, then at DDT offices later. It won't be a problem since both offices are based in Shinjuku.

 

[Stopspot]

Actually hyped for W-1 right now since they seem to be hitting a little stride. And if you want someone to book Jap sports entertainment, Sanshiro is your guy.

 

[Stopspot]

It's review time!
Stopspot watches Dragon Gate: Dead or Alive 2015

Jimmy Kanda, Mr Qyu Qyu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaki Dolphin & Super Shisa vs Mondai Ryu, Punch Tominaga & K-Ness​

** 1/2​

Yosuke Santa Maria & El Lindaman vs Kenichiro Arai & Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa​

*​

BxB Hulk (c) vs Cyber Kong (open the dream gate title match)
**

Masato Yoshino & Shachihoko Boy (c) vs Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu (open the twin gate title match)
***

Jimmy Susumu, Genki Horiguchi Ha.Ah.Ge.Me & Jimmy Kagetora (c) vs Kotoka, U-T & Flamita vs Naruki Doi, Don Fujii & Gamma (open the triangle gate title match)
*** 1/2

Akira Tozawa (c) vs Dragon Kid (open the brave gate title match)
*** 1/2

T-Hawk (Doi, Yoshino) vs Cima (Flamita) vs Kzy (Tozawa) vs Ryo "Jimmy" Saito (Dragon Kid) vs Shingo Takagi (BXB Hulk) vs Yamato (Masaaki) Steel Cage Survivla Six way match (six men compete in ring, each competitor has a second, T-Hawk has two. Last person to escape the ring gets his and his second's hair cut/loses his mask. Seconds can be saved by scoring a pin or submission in the ring before escaping).
****

- The undercard was entertaining enough, neither the opening six man or the comedy tag match rewrote the rulebook. But it's Dragon Gate and all the people involved in these matches know what they are doing so it was going to be okay at worst.

- The dreamgate (DG's top belt) going on third showed how much faith they have in Kong in that echelon. It served to give Hulk another defense against a member of his old group but Kong is not dreamgate contender material. Hulk had to pull the majority of the weight here. Tag title match was where the show started to pick up pace imo. Three veterans and one shining rookie in Big R duking it out. Yoshino is one of the fastest guys in wrestling and at his age it's especially impressive. Big R got to shine here and those who follow DG know how good Mochi is. Triangle Gate match was your typical DG madness multiman match. Kotoka had the bump of the match and a lot of hijinks was had in regards to Fujii being much bigger than the other guys involved.

- Tozawa vs Dragon Kid was my favorite match outside of the main event. If Hulk is having a lackluster dreamgate reign then Tozawa is having the opposite with his brave gate reign. Since getting the belt he has been put in the position to shine multiple times, and he has delivered when put in that spot if you ask me. There's a reason this guy is the most over guy in Dragon Gate. And Kid was a good opponent for him, arguably the best brave gate champ outside of Flamita putting the new champ through the ringer. Liked this one.

- Main event was DG madness 101. Convoluted stipulation? check. Water balloons? check. Wiffle balls? check. Plastic mallet? check. Glitter gun? check. Mind controlled karate robot Mochizuki? check. This is Dragon Gate folks, get used to it. There were 3 different feuds interlocked in the guys fighting in the cage and two or three extra feuds going on with the people outside, all tied together in one chaos filled package. This was a roller coaster with highs and lows and a lot of action. And the climax was real good.

Overall this was a good show and a good way to spend a couple of hours. Not as good as previous Dead or Alive's but still a good show and the card delivered in full, as is usual with DG.
​

My ratings system:
no star = dud
* = okay, but just okay, doesn't hurt if you skip it.
** = Entertaining enough
*** = Good match
**** = Real good match
***** = Great match​

 

[Bort]

I caught DK/Tozawa live and hated everything except for few things in the closing stretch. Tozawa just pisses me off so much, he might be the lamest Japanese wrestler nowadays.

 

[Stopspot]

Taste is like the ass, split in the middle :burns:

 

[Bort]

:letroll: