ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2021
AUGUST 24, 2021
SHIN-KIBA 1ST RING
TOKYO, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

YOSHITATSU DEF. RYOMA TSUKAMOTO (6:45)

This was the position on the card that I’m sure many people want to see Yoshitatsu in on a regular basis. Tsukamoto, who trained at Animal Hamiguchi’s dojo, moves around the ring like someone who has plenty of experience and has a nice dropkick for a short and stout guy. The crowd also seems to like him. Tsukamoto got in a decent amount of offense here, and survived a fair amount from Yoshitatsu before tapping out to a Crab Hold after previously making the ropes during one. Good opener and Tsukamoto has a ton of potential even if his height will probably cap how high he can rise on the card as a singles wrestler. I mean he looked like a better worker than Yoshitatsu in this. **¾

TOTAL ECLIPSE (TAJIRI & HOKUTO OMORI) DEF. JUN SAITO & REI SAITO (6:11)

The Saitos used their size advantage to initially establish dominance in the match. Omori played the whipping boy for a bit until he hit a dropkick to the knee of Jun and tagged out to TAJIRI who then began to work Jun’s leg over. The Saitos were double-teaming Omori but he managed to low blow Rei when the referee wasn’t looking and then pinned him with a Sunset Flip. This was a fun little match and I thought Rei looked better here than he has previously, though Jun continues to look the best in-ring of the two. **¾

YUMA AOYAGI, KOJI IWAMOTO, IZANAGI & FRANCESCO AKIRA DEF. TAKAO OMORI, BLACK MENSO~RE, DAN TAMURA & RYUKI HONDA (5:57)

Tamura is letting his hair grow out and it’s beginning to look a lot like El Lindaman’s luscious locks. This was all action from the start. Akira and Honda in particular, stood out here. Iwamoto pinned Tamura with the Koko no Geijutsu. It was interesting that Tamura took the fall here, instead of Honda which I think is a sign of Honda’s elevation. Like a lot of All Japan midcard multiman tags featuring all good talent, it could have gone a few minutes more and been a better match. ***

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2021 QUARTER-FINAL
SHOTARO ASHINO DEF. ATSUKI AOYAGI (9:52)

Aoyagi’s performance in this tournament is a sign that he is poised to be a major player in the Jr. Heavyweight division soon. Aoyagi managed to get the better of Ashino early on with his high-flying offense. Ashino fought back with suplexes that Aoyagi took huge bumps for. It looked great. Aoyagi got several near falls on Ashino with Moonsaults. Ashino got back on offense when Aoyagi went up to the top rope for a Phoenix Splash, but Ashino suplexed him off. Aoyagi escaped from the Ankle Lock and kicked out of a German Suplex, but Ashino then finished him off with a T-Bone Suplex for the pin. This was a ton of fun and was a nice battle of two different styles. I thought Aoyagi also gave the best performance I have ever seen from him here. I think he can be All Japan’s new Jr. ace now that Iwamoto is an openweight. This was the second-best match of the tournament up to this point. ***¾

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2021 QUARTER-FINAL
SUWAMA DEF. SHIGEHIRO IRIE (13:05)

This was definitely a match that I thought we would get and I was definitely looking forward to. Suwama worked over Irie’s right arm for much of the opening minutes. The arm work definitely began to drag on by the time Irie made his comeback. Irie to his credit, kept selling the arm when on offense. Suwama’s arm work paid off for him as Irie was unable to knock the former Triple Crown champion over with the Beast Bomber. Suwama hit a Backdrop that Irie kicked out of then applied the Manriki Sleeper for the referee stoppage. Irie really sold the effects of the sleeper after the match. This was not quite the two big men slapping beef match I was expecting, but it had its moments. ***¼

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2021 QUARTER-FINAL
JAKE LEE DEF. AYATO YOSHIDA (14:32)

It looked like we were getting another arm work match, with Lee working over Yoshida’s left arm, but on the outside, Lee went to kick Yoshida but Yoshida moved and Lee hit the ring post which led to Yoshida working over Lee’s right leg. While the match was a little slow to get going, they eventually built the intensity up quite well, especially with the strike exchanges. I thought Lee’s work as the dominant heel was pretty good here, but when Lee prioritizes his character work, he is a lot less of an explosive wrestler. So while the match had some really great moments, I think overall it didn’t quite live up to what these two should be capable of. And then there’s the whole issue of the booking here, that I will get into later. ***½

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2021 QUARTER-FINAL
KENTO MIYAHARA DEF. SHUJI ISHIKAWA (22:06)

Ishikawa looks like he’s trying to grow a mullet with his hair. It doesn’t look that good on him. This started as your standard Miyahara singles match with brawling on the outside early on. Ishikawa mostly dominated the opening minutes. They did the usual spots they do with each other like Ishikawa hitting a Fire Thunder Driver on the apron. This also took a while to get going, but once it did, it was the usual great work from both men, especially in the closing minutes, but we’ve seen it many times before. Miyahara kicked out of a Thesz Press and then reversed it into a cradle of his own for the win. That was a fresh kind of finish for a match between these two and is welcome, but everything else, while good, was their standard fare. ***1/2

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was another good but not great show. Nothing was bad, but nothing was going to make your end-of-the-year list for best matches. That has pretty much been the theme of the tournament thus far.

As for the booking, I think having Lee beat Yoshida was a big mistake. All Japan needs fresh challengers for Lee and they could have made one here that has the added back story of them being former stablemates in JIN. However, I still believe my prediction that Suwama wins the Royal Road Tournament will hold true.