ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
SUPER POWER SERIES 2022
MAY 14 & 15, 2022
HOTEL EMISIA SAPPORO
SAPPORO, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN

WATCH: AJPW.TV

MAY 14

YOSHITATSU VS. RYO INOUE

These two have tangled before in opening matches and their previous meetings have been solid. Inoue continues to impress only four months into his career. If you haven’t seen him yet because you haven’t been watching All Japan or only watching the top matches, take time out to see him.

Yoshitatsu will win of course, but I hope Inoue gets in some more offense this time. Prediction: Yoshitatsu

THREE WAY MATCH
IZANAGI VS. BLACK MENSO~RE VS. BRUTE ISSEI

Issei was a much-touted rookie who debuted in 2006 in All Japan. Billed at 6’4” and 308 lbs., he was getting wins over opening match guys only a few months into his career and was clearly being positioned to be a generation rival to Suwama. But only 18 months into his career, while on excursion in North America, he injured his shoulder in a match in Puerto Rico and retired. Out of nowhere, he resurfaced and worked three JUST TAP OUT shows in 2020. So this is a double homecoming of sorts, as he returns to All Japan and he is from Hokkaido.

The result of this is hard to say. On the one hand, Issei is a large man, but on the other, why have him beat one of your full-timers? But I’m going to guess Issei wins to make the local crowd happy. Prediction: Brute Issei

EVOLUTION (HIKARU SATO & DAN TAMURA) VS. TOTAL ECLIPSE (TAJIRI & RYUKI HONDA)

Not much to say about this other than it should be a solid match. Given that TAJIRI rarely does jobs and Honda is getting a push, Tamura is probably getting pinned by Honda here. I would expect TAJIRI to spend a maximum of two minutes as the legal man here. Prediction: Total Eclipse

JAKE LEE VS. TAKAO OMORI

Lee is from Hokkaido, and as the hometown boy, he’s getting two singles matches on these shows. Omori, who turns 53 in October, has clearly slowed down. But he is still able to pull off some very good performances a couple times a year, so I think this will be a lot of fun. I will eat a shoe if Lee loses here, and I will talk about what these two singles matches suggest later in this preview. Prediction: Jake Lee

NEXTREAM (KENTO MIYAHARA & RISING HAYATO) VS. NEXTREAM (YUMA AOYAGI & ATSUKI AOYAGI)

This is a preview of the Triple Crown match the next day. With the talent involved here and this building to a big match, this could be a banger, or at least very good. Will the result here tell us something about the Triple Crown match? I think it probably will and I expect the Aoyagi Brothers to prevail. Prediction: Aoyagi Brothers

ALL ASIA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
TOTAL ECLIPSE (HOKUTO OMORI & YUSUKE KODAMA) © VS. TOMOYA & NORIYUKI YOSHIDA

Tomoya and Yoshida are local indie wrestlers who work All Japan shows when they are in Hokkaido. Since this is All Japan’s first show in that prefecture since the pandemic started, they have not appeared for the company for almost three years. They are solid workers. The average indie wrestler in Japan has a level of training that you don’t see from indie wrestlers in Canada or the U.S. I am optimistic the match will be good, and Total Eclipse have worked hard in all of their title matches during this reign. Total Eclipse is a lock to retain. Prediction: Total Eclipse

WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
RUNAWAY SUPLEX (SUWAMA & SHOTARO ASHINO) © VS. TWIN TOWERS (SHUJI ISHIKAWA & KOHEI SATO)

This match already happened during Runaway SUPLEX’s reign back in October 2021 and it was their first defense. Despite some real strides in getting back on track, one major weakness All Japan has had is a lack of credible teams to challenge for the World Tag Titles. They weren’t even defended on the Dream Power Series tour last March. This is better than nothing, I guess.

They are running an angle where Ashino and Suwama aren’t getting along. I think it’s too early to tease something like this, Runaway SUPLEX still has a lot left in it. This will probably be pretty good. It’s the main event, and Ishikawa has been working hard lately. Sato is a bit of a question mark, he’s showing his age and doesn’t always work hard. I’m fairly confident that Runaway SUPLEX will win and patch things up. Ashino will probably pin or make Ishikawa submit. Ishikawa pinned Ashino in the Champion Carnival and then pinned him in a match building to this one, which caused the dissension between Ashino and Suwama. Prediction: Runaway SUPLEX

MAY 15

TAJIRI & BRUTE ISSEI VS. RYO INOUE & SHIGEYUKI KAWAHARA

Kawahara is another indie worker from Hokkaido, but he hasn’t appeared in All Japan before nor have I ever seen him. Given Issei’s age and the fact he rarely wrestles, and TAJIRI being in this, I’m not sure this will be good. It will be a test for Inoue to see how much he can make something of this, and also a chance for Kawahara to show off his ability in the biggest company he’s ever wrestled for. The teams of olds will win this one. Prediction: TAJIRI & Issei

IZANAGI & BLACK MENSO~RE VS. TOMOYA & NORIYUKI YOSHIDA

This could be a very fun match. There’s not much else to say other than I think the Hokkaido indie guys are going to take another loss here. Prediction: Izanagi & Black Menso~re

TOTAL ECLIPSE (RYUKI HONDA & HOKUTO OMORI) VS. NEXREAM (ATSUKI AOYAGI & RISING HAYATO)

I’m excited about this match. I’ve been banging on for some time that All Japan has some very good young talent, though it will take some time before they are fully developed. I expect everyone to be working hard here with some fast-paced action. Total Eclipse is likely to emerge victorious here again with Honda making the pin as part of his push. Prediction: Total Eclipse

JAKE LEE VS. YOSHITATSU

Another singles match for Hokkaido’s Lee. Lee is obviously going to win here, and if it’s kept short and like a sprint, it could be decent, though Yoshitatsu is always a wildcard when it comes to match quality. It’s certainly not impossible that this exceeds expectations. What’s interesting is that these singles matches aren’t just for Lee to show off in his home prefecture, but I think they are setting him up to challenge for the Triple Crown.

All Japan has a Korakuen Hall show on May 29 where they have announced there will be a Triple Crown match on that show, but there’s also a show at Ota Ward Gym on June 19. If Kento Miyahara retains in the main event, I could see Kuma Arashi challenging him for Korakuen Hall and then Lee for Ota Ward Gym, but Arashi is not booked on these shows. If Yuma Aoyagi wins, he needs a first challenger and re-running the Champion Carnival finals isn’t the worst idea, but there’s not an obvious challenger for Ota Ward Gym, and that person has to be a big name. It will be very interesting to see how All Japan handles this. Prediction: Jake Lee

SUWAMA, SHOTARO ASHINO & DAN TAMURA VS. TWIN TOWERS (SHUJI ISHIKAWA & KOHEI SATO) & TAKAO OMORI

This should be a solid match, and it will be a way for the Twin Towers to get their heat back. There is also a World Tag title match scheduled for May 29 and the Ota Ward Gym show. I’m not saying that the Twin Towers will be challenging yet again, but there isn’t a credible team to challenge next, and one would assume they would tease the next challengers after this match. I have no clue what will happen with that, but I know that Twin Towers and Omori will win this one. Prediction: Ishikawa, Sato & Omori

PWF WORLD JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
HIKARU SATO © VS. YUSUKE KODAMA

Sato has been having a great Jr. Title reign. I strongly recommend checking out his matches. I expect another great one here. It’s unusual, though not unprecedented, for All Japan to have a wrestler in two different title matches on back-to-back days. The only hesitation I have with this match is that sometimes Kodama doesn’t work hard. But since they have gone to the trouble of doing angles for this match involving Kodama sneaking up on Sato, I figure there will be effort put into this. Sato will definitely try, and I think this could have a fairly high ceiling. While this title has been a hot potato in recent years, I expect him to win. Prediction: Hikaru Sato

TRIPLE CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP
KENTO MIYAHARA © VS. YUMA AOYAGI

I have extremely high expectations for this match. It could seriously be a match of the year contender. They have had incredible matches in the past, including a 30-minute draw last month in the Champion Carnival. Miyahara has shown since getting the Triple Crown back, that he’s one of the best in the business, including in the charisma department. Aoyagi winning the Champion Carnival has greatly raised his stock and he’s been getting rave reviews for this performance in the finals. He’s also drawn some eyeballs back to All Japan that haven’t watched it in a while which is a huge feather in his cap.

The question on everyone’s mind is will they pull the trigger here and put the Triple Crown on Aoyagi? I can’t rule it out. You can argue that it’s a daring thing that All Japan should try to breathe some life into the company, though I’d argue that they have been slowly but surely improving things. What makes me hesitant to predict an Aoyagi victory is that you have to think that they want Miyahara to hold on to the title to main event the 50th-anniversary show at the Nippon Budokan. I think a 60-minute draw is even more likely than an Aoyagi victory, though ultimately, I expect Miyahara to get the pin here. This is certainly a match they could run again at the Budokan, whatever the result, but in my gut I don’t think that will be the main event there. Anyway, this should be incredible. Prediction: Kento Miyahara

Powered by RedCircle