ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
SUMMER ACTION SERIES
JULY 14
KORAKUEN HALL
TOKYO, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

SHUJI ISHIKAWA, TAKAO OMORI & RYO INOUE DEF. YOSHITATSU, MASANOBU FUCHI & IZANAGI (8:32)

This was a lot of fun. Fuchi and Ishikawa had a genuinely funny opening sequence where Fuchi teased walking out after taking a Shoulder Block. Fuchi even managed, with a bit of assistance, to hit a Backdrop on Ishikawa! Everyone got in their spots and the crowd even made some noise which claps crowd do these days but usually for the biggest matches. Omori pinned Yoshitatsu with the Axe Bomber in a surprising finish. As I’ve said previously, he is finally being shifted down the card. ***

CYRUS DEF. BLACK MENSO~RE (1:51)

Cyrus is a large man, with a body size similar to Vader. Menso~re was great at first playing too scared to get into the ring and then using eye pokes and dropkicks to try to survive. This didn’t last long as Cyrus didn’t sell too much, and then hit a Chokeslam and Vader Bomb for the win. Crowd again made noise here for Cyrus’ big power spots so that’s a good sign for him. I think he’ll get over doing a Vader tribute act. It’s hard to give an accurate star rating to a match like this but it did exactly what it was supposed to do for Cyrus. **½

EVOLUTION (YUJI NAGATA & HIKARU SATO) DEF. NEXTREAM (KENTO MIYAHARA & RISING HAYATO) (12:27)

Miyahara mocking Nagata’s salute will never not be funny to me. Miyahara and Nagata started things off and had some great sequences. After that, HAYATO got worked over for a while by Evolution. HAYATO once again provided a strong closing stretch and even got a couple of near falls on Nagata! But Blue Justice fought back, hit a Brainbuster and made HAYATO tap out to a modified Nagata Lock II. Solid tag team wrestling with the Miyahara vs. Nagata interactions a highlight. I hope they have a singles match soon. ***½

ALL ASIA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
VOODOO MURDERS (MINORU & TOSHIZO) DEF. TOTAL ECLIPSE (HOKUTO OMORI & YUSUKE KODAMA) © (15:13)

They brawled around ringside early on. Minoru hit Kodama with the gas can when referee Daisuke Kamibayashi was distracted. This led to Kodama getting worked over for a bit in a not particularly exciting fashion. Things did pick up when Omori finally tagged back in. Kodama kicked out of a top rope Fisherman’s Buster and later a Buzzsaw Kick from Minoru before falling to Minoru’s top rope Double Foot Stomp. Toshizo is also now a double champion, holding the All Asia tag and GAORA TV titles.

After the match, Takao Omori came out to save everyone from a Voodoo Muders beatdown. Ryo Inour then joined him to challenge for the All Asia tag titles! This will be Inoue’s first ever title shot.

The champions failed in their V7 defense. I definitely wouldn’t ended their title reign here. They were having a great run.

While the match started slow, it did pick up in the second half with everyone working hard. ***¼

The 2022 Royal Road Tournament participants are:

  • Suwama
  • Kento Miyahara
  • Jake Lee
  • Ren Ayabe
  • Atsuki Ayoagi
  • Takuya Nomura
  • Yuma Aoyagi
  • Naoya Nomura
  • Shotaro Ashino
  • Dan Tamura
  • Takao Omori
  • Ryuki Honda
  • Shuji Ishikawa
  • Cyrus
  • Yoshitatsu
  • Yuji Nagata

The tournament will begin on August 7 at Korakuen Hall and conclude with the semis and finals on August 20, also at Korakuen Hall.

STRONGHEARTS (T-HAWK, SHIGEHIRO IRIE & EL LINDAMAN) DEF. SHOTARO ASHINO, RYUKI HONDA & SEIGO TACHIBANA (10:45)

Okay so may have hyped this match up.in my head too much. It was good but I was expecting something more explosive. It never reached that non-stop frenetic pace that some StrongHearts matches do. Everyone here got in their spots and there were some cool double team moves. El Lindaman, who isn’t even in the tag title match this is building to looked the best here. Irie pinned Tachibana after a Flying Headbutt. ***¼

PWF WORLD JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
TIGER MASK © DEF. DAN TAMURA (12:21)

Tamura worked over Tiger Mask for a while then, the champion made his comeback with lots of kicks.

Tamura hit some Flying Shoulders and a Death Valley Driver for a near fall. With Tiger Mask back in control, Tamura kicked out of some flash pins and a Tiger Driver. Tiger Mask then targeted the arm but Tamura escaped from some submissions.

There was a sloppy top rope Double Arm Suplex that Tamura stumbled on that may have meant to be a Tiger Driver. Tiger Mask then kicked Tamura in the head and applied a Rings of Saturn like move for the submission.

I was right that these two might not have the best chemistry. The match wasn’t awful but the finish after the botch was deflating. Tamura is better suited as a tag team guy as much I love his weird charisma. Tiger Mask did give him a lot on this match though.

This was Tiger Mask’s V1 defense of the title. **¾

REAL BLOOD (NAOYA NOMURA & MIZUKI WATASE) DEF. YUMA AOYAGI & ATSUKI AOYAGI (11:07)

As soon as REAL BLOOD entered the ring, Yuma dropkicked Nomura out of nowhere and the teams began brawling all over the place. That dropkick ruled.

They did a good job establishing the hate between the two teams, with Yuma attacking Nomura on the apron several times.

This had some great sequences between Yuma and Nomura, their chemistry is off the charts.

Watase threw Yuma out of the ring and while Atsuki did get a near fall on Nomura and then had some big kick outs, Nomura finally finished Atsuki with the Maximum.

This was a lot of fun and Nomura is still a great wrestler. The feud will continue as Yuma and Nomura face each other in the first round of the Royal Road tournament.

After the match, Nomura got on the mic and called out Kento Miyahara and Jake Lee. ***½

TRIPLE CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP
SUWAMA DEF. JAKE LEE © (22:26)

Fuck this. DUD

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