ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING BROADCAST #7 ~ GO FORWARD
JUNE 25, 2020
2AW SQUARE
CHIBA, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

Before the show began it was announced that the 5th Asunaro Cup, which had been previously scheduled to happen in March but was cancelled due to COVID-19 will happen over the next few shows, including the July shows where All Japan will be having shows in front of fans. It is a round robin tournament in the style of the Young Lions Cup. The participants are Hokuto Omori, Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura and Rising HAYATO.

TAKAO OMORI, ATSUKI AOYAGI & RISING HAYATO DEF. PURPLE HAZE (ZEUS, UTAMARO & IZANAGI) (7:55)

You can tell All Japan is gearing up to have fans back because they are bringing back freelancers like HAYATO and UTAMARO who they haven’t used during the other empty arena shows. It’s nice to see them back. Would you believe the Purple Haze attacked before the bell? Surprising, I know. This was your standard Purple Haze tag match. Aoyagi as the young boy got beat up for a bit, then HAYATO got worked over. But what made this match a bit different was that HAYATO got the surprise win with a Superkick followed up by a School Boy on Izanagi. Definitely the biggest win the young Ehime Pro Wrestling prospect has gotten in All Japan. A good idea to heat him up going into the Asunaro Cup. I liked this well enough especially given the surprise result. ***

JUN AKIYAMA DEF. DAN TAMURA (5:18)

There is nothing better than Akiyama terrorizing a young boy. Tamura got nothing in at all early, but eventually got in a good amount of offense including a Deadlift Gut Wrench Suplex and a Top-rope Shoulder Tackle. Tamura survived a Crab Hold and a big running knee before falling to the Exploder. This was a fun little match. And it may be Akiyama’s last match in All Japan for sometime, as reports are out that he is transferring to DDT at least for a while and that transfer may in fact become permanent. Akiyama is not booked on the next show either. Not the worst way to go out of All Japan, but hopefully Akiyama comes back for one more big match with some of the main eventers. **3/4

HIKARU SATO & KOJI IWAMOTO DEF. YUSUKE KODAMA & BLACK MENSO~RE (7:24)

Everyone’s favourite new odd couple tag team are still in the hunt for their first win. They lost to this exact same team on the last show. This match was pretty much all action (and a few comedy spots) from the bell. Kodama and Menso~re seemed to be in control and about to put it away until Kodama shockingly hit a Superkick on Menso~re and went after Sato outside of the ring. Iwamoto hit the Koko no Geijutsu on Menso~re for the win. After the match Kodama confroned Iwamoto, while Menso~re gave a backstage promo where he sounded really upset his new friend Kodama turned on him. In one match you managed to create a couple of interesting angles moving forward from this. Kodama and Iwamoto will face each other in a #1 contender’s match for the PWF Jr. Championship on June 30. ***

KUMA ARASHI DEF. HOKUTO OMORI (2:28)

Omori managed to get the jump on Arashi at the bell and got in a good bit of offense, including a near fall with an Ace Crusher, but eventually Arashi used his size and strength advantage to take control. Arashi used an Inverted Powerbomb and a Diving Senton from the top rope for the win. This was as good as you are going to get in a two-and-a-half minute squash. Omori didn’t look like a total jobber here either which was cool. This nicely set up Arashi for his singles match against Jake Lee on the next show. ***

KENTO MIYAHARA, JIRO IKEMEN KUROSHIO & FRANCESCO AKIRA DEF. EVOLUTION (SUWAMA & YUSUKE OKADA) & SHUJI ISHIKAWA (14:15)

There was a bunch of stalling at the beginning of this match as Jiro acted like he was scared to wrestle SUWAMA. When they finally tied up it was kind of goofy. Things finally picked up with Okada and Akira in the ring who both worked hard. One thing I noticed here is that Akira is getting in a lot more offense against guys like Ishikawa and SUWAMA which is a sign that he is progressing up the card. This wasn’t a bad match, but it certainly was not up to the quality of a multi-man tag that these wrestlers are capable of, though Akira and Okada were great. I thought there was too much goofiness from Jiro here, even more than usual. Jiro got the win over Okada with the Ikemenrana. ***

JAKE LEE DEF. TAJIRI (8:51)

Once again, TAJIRI continues his pandemic streak of having passable matches. This was in part due to Lee also selling for him. While it was a lot of mat based stuff from TAJIRI it all made sense of him trying to have to wrestle a larger opponent. Lee also did some good mat work here which he doesn’t often do. If I had a major critique of this match it would be that perhaps TAJIRI got too much offense as establishing Lee back up as a top guy after a singles loss to Shuji Ishikawa a couple weeks ago is what they seem to be doing here, as Lee has a singles match with Kuma Arashi on the June 30 show. Lee put away TAJIRI with the Backdrop. This was shockingly good. After the match Arashi ran to the ring and attacked Lee and cut a promo on him. ***1/4

ALL ASIA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
YANKEE TWO KENJU (ISAMI KODAKA & YUKO MIYAMOTO) © DEF. YOSHITATSU & SEIGO TACHIBANA (12:52)

Tachibana and Yoshitatsu are another case of rivals turned partners. This started as a fairly straightforward tag match, Tachibana got worked over for a while by Yankee Two Kenju before getting the hot tag to Yoshitatsu. Yoshitatu and Tachibana had some tense moments as Tachibana didn’t like Yoshitatsu coming to save him a couple of times. But they managed to put aside their differences for the rest of the match. The closing moments of this match was a great sprint with both teams getting lots of near falls on each other until Miyamoto put Tachibana away with a Moonsault Press. Yankee Two Kenju succeeded in their V3 defense. Yoshitatsu and Tachibana also made a pretty good team and I would like to see more of them teaming moving forward. This was a lot of fun. ***1/2

SHOTARO ASHINO DEF. YUMA AOYAGI (17:14)

Aoyagi tried to act like a surly dick here, even slapping on an Ankle Lock in the opening minutes of the match, but Ashino was not having any of it. Ashino then took control and worked over Aoyagi’s left leg mercilessly. Aoyagi sells it but then eventually when he got back on offense he hit stuff like a dropkick and a Diving Body Press. Though Aoyagi does not completely stop selling the leg, it becomes a lot more spotty as the match goes on. Aoyagi even hit a Bridging German Suplex at one point and he could have at least done the spot where he can;t maintain the bridge because his leg was hurt. But that didn’t happen. If you are a selling fetishist. You won’t like this. But the rest of the match was great. Ashino had some cool counters turned into suplexes in this and Aoyagi struggling to escape from the Ankle Lock before eventually tapping out to it was great. But I have to deduct marks for the selling. Aoyagi, while still good in this match did not exactly demonstrate to me that he is ready for the main event. He needs a bit more polishing. After the match Ashino and SUWAMA confront each other and cut promos. Ashino now gets a Triple Crown challenge against SUWAMA on June 30. ***3/4

Now let’s take a look at an All Japan title match that took place recently in another promotion…

BONUS MATCH REVIEW
DRAGON GATE
RAINBOW GATE
JUNE 14, 2020
PWF WORLD JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
SUSUMU YOKOSUKA © DEF. HOKUTO OMORI & YOSUKE SANTA MARIA (14:55)

Santa Maria was a last minute addition to this match and I think she did a pretty good job here. She took control early, and most of the early part of the match was her versus Omori. Match was a little slow at first, with cliché three way things like one person getting taken out for a bit while the other two wrestle. But once it picked up, it was a lot of fun. Omori was really great here and gave one of the best performances I have ever seen him have. Omori even got the biggest win of his career in this match as he eliminated Santa Maria with a beautiful Bridging German Suplex. When it came down to Omori vs. Yokosuka, the match hit an even higher gear, but it felt like Yokosuka was never truly in trouble, Omori only managed to get some near falls on roll ups. Yokosuka put Omori away with the Yokosuka Cutter for his V5 defense. The one-on-one Omori vs. Yokosuka stuff didn’t even last as long as it should have as Santa Maria was eliminated at 12:25. Recommended but not absolutely essential viewing. ***1/2

FINAL THOUGHTS

This show was all about setting up for matches on the June 30 show like Kuma Arashi vs. Jake Lee and Shotaro Ashino vs. SUWAMA. I am surprised that the Triple Crown is getting defended on June 30, given that All Japan has announced three shows with fans for July including Korakuen Hall on July 25. Even though the idea of a title change in front of no fans isn’t ideal, I really think they need to pull the trigger on Ashino given how hot the Enfants Terribles invasion angle has been. I also think that if the pandemic hadn’t happened, SUWAMA would probably have lost the Triple Crown by now. The big money match is Ashino vs. Miyahara but if the Champion Carnival does happen this Autumn, that is a match you want to save until after that. It just seems like a bit of a waste to have Ashino lose and end this hot angle before the fans are even back. Plus with Ashino as Triple Crown champion, you will have a ton of fresh matches, and it seems like they are heating up Jake Lee who could be Ashino’s first title defense if he is successful against SUWAMA.