ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE/JR. BATTLE OF GLORY 2022
NOVEMBER 16, 2022
SHIN-KIBA 1ST RING
TOKYO, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

TAKAO OMORI DEF. MASAO INOUE (8:10)

This might as well have been billed as a 50th anniversary match and a return to the 1990s. The crowd was actually quite happy to see both guys and there were dueling chants.

The match was pretty slow moving, but they threw in a few comedy spots for good measure like slapping each others’ bellies. Omori won with the Axe Bomber, but despite the very simple work, the crowd was into this. **½

ALL ASIA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
YOSHITATSU & TAJIRI © DEF. IZANAGI & BLACK MENSO~RE (9:37)

Another simple match. Izanagi got worked over and then the masked men made a comeback. There were teases of Izanagi pinning Yoshitatsu again with a cradle, which was what set up this title match in the first place. This got the crowd quite vocally on the side of Izanagi.

The last couple of minutes were pretty good with the Izanagi near falls on Yoshitatsu but Yoshitatsu persevered and managed to hit the Cockroach Driver 2022 on Izanagi to get the win. This was Yoshitatsu & TAJIRI’s V1 defense of the titles. All in all, I think this exceeded my admittedly low expectations.

After the match, Yusuke Kodama and Masao Hanabata (the former Seigo Tachibana) came out to make the next challenge. ***¼

JR. BATTLE OF GLORY 2022
ATSUKI AOYAGI [2] DEF. RYO INOUE [0] (5:29)

Inoue attacked Aoyagi right at the bell and got the upper hand. This impressed the crowd a lot. This allowed Inoue to show off more of his fancy new kicks.

Aoyagi eventually got the upper hand and won the match with the Firebird Splash. This was a ton of fun. My main critique was that it could have been a little longer and Aoyagi just got the win with little build. Still, a great showcase for Inoue. ***¼

JR. BATTLE OF GLORY 2022
DAN TAMURA [2] DEF. HIKARU SATO [2] (9:05)

This was a blast. Sato worked over Tamura’s arm and used a lot of kicks. But Tamura wouldn’t stay down for long. He ven managed to stand up while in a Kimura Lock on the ground and land a Samoan Drop to Sato.

Last few minutes minutes featured Tamura blasting Sato with Lariat, and Sato returning the favor with kicks.

They did the wobble back-and-forth while hitting forearms thing but Tamura unleashed two more Lariats then hit the Death Valley Bomb to get the pin. This got a big pop from the crowd. This was undoubtedly the biggest win of Tamura’s near four year career.

Always nice to see Tamura get a big moment. ***½

YUMA AOYAGI, JAKE LEE & HOKUTO OMORI DEF. NEXTREAM (KENTO MIYAHARA & RISING HAYATO) & OJI SHIIBA

I will never tire of getting a full Miyahara entrance where the crowd can cheer.

This started as the usual fast-paced kind of match you’d expect from these teams. But soon they got into lots of wild crowd brawling.

Once they got back in the ring, they turned up the intensity even more. Lee not only brought his enthusiasm for the Atomic Drop here, but he and Aoyagi put Miyahara and HAYATO in Paradise Locks followed up but kicks to the rear end. The crowd ate up all of this stuff.

The last few minutes were action packed with everyone just going in and out of the ring. Aoyagi locked Shiiba in the End Game to get the submission.

This was the kind of match that shows you what this company is really capable of. ***¾

REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2022
SHUJI ISHIKAWA & CYRUS [2] DCO KUMA ARASHI & KOJI DOI [0] (15:50)

A hoss battle. It was a little slow to start, but that was very much about each team trying to establish dominance.

Arashi briefly got Cyrus up in an Argentine Backbreaker which was impressive. KumaDoi really worked hard here to get some good stuff out of Cyrus.

This spilled to the outside and Cyrus gave lots of Vader style clubbing blows to both Arashi and Doi. This would end up getting everyone counted out.

Even by double countout standards the finish wasn’t dramatic but I enjoyed the rest of the match for what it was. ***

REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2022
VOODOO MURDERS (JUN SAITO & REI SAITO) [2] DEF. YUJI NAGATA & YUMA ANZAI [2] (12:05)

Lots of shouts for Anzai before the match even started.

After some back-and-forth action early lon, this settled into Anzai getting worked over. Nagata made a hit tag for a bit but this was only to set up Anzai getting back in there, but this time on the offensive.

Anzai got a couple near falls, but the Saitos were too powerful. They neutralized Nagata on the outside and then Rei delivered a top rope splash to Anzai for the three count.

Apart from a couple sloppy spots, I thought the Saitos actually did well here and this was one of their better matches since their return. Anzai looked great as well and already has a strong crowd connection. ***⅓

After the match, the Saitos did a beatdown, but then Gungnir of Anarchy came out to make the save. Then Suwama and KONO stormed out and we got a transition into the next match ECW style.

REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2022
GUNGNIR OF ANARCHY (SHOTARO ASHINO & RYUKI HONDA) [2] DEF. VOODOO MURDERS (SUWAMA & KONO) [2] (14:54)

GOA got worked over early on and the Saitos were still around ringside so they took shots when referee Daisuke Kamibayashi was distracted. At first this felt way too much like the tag title match these two teams had last month that I hated.

GOA finally got momentum and things got good. But then Suwama hurled Kamibayashi into Ashino and the shenanigans began again with the Saitos getting into the ring. GOA managed to survive this and drove the Saitos out of the ring which made the crowd VERY hot.

Ashino survived a blizzard of offense from Suwama and battled over an Ankle Lock. Suwama almost escaped but Ashino locked it in with a grapevine and got the submission!This was Ashino’s first ever direct victory over Suwama  and the crowd loved it. Hopefully it will not be Ashino’s last.

The interference was still annoying and i’m going to deduct marks for that, but the in-ring work in this match was much better than these teams’ previous encounter. ***¼

FINAL THOUGHTS

This show drew 269 which was down from 300 at the last Shin-Kiba show, but not that bad for a Wednesday evening.

The Jr. Battle of Glory and the Real World Tag League have been mostly delivering so far.

But what makes the Voodoo Murders stuff all the more frustrating is just how much good stuff this company can do without it. The Aoyagi Brothers are mega over and so is GOA. You don’t need the Voodoo Murders to elevate them, just give them big wins in great matches.

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