PRO WRESTLING FREEDOMS/JUN KASAI PRODUCE TOKYO DEATH MATCH CARNIVAL 2023 VOL. 2
AUGUST 28, 2023
KORAKUEN HALL
TOKYO, JAPAN

After the big Yokohama Budokan show we’re back at Korakuen Hall with Jun Kasai’s 25th Anniversary Singles Match against all-time nemesis Masashi Takeda. Attendance for Korakuen Hall shows were a bit low over the last months for FREEDOMS but this show almost scratched the 1,000 people mark again.

TOKYO DESERT HOMELESS HUMAN DEATHMATCH
BRAHMAN SHU, DOBUNEZUMI FUKKI & KUISHINBO KAMEN DEF. GENTARO, KIKUTARO & TAKAHIRO KATORI

This was labelled as a deathmatch but this is the typical Brahman’s stipulation with five minutes of comedy. Two Osaka legends took also part in the match, and yeah that is what you can expect from this match. GENTARO came out with a hommage to Terry Funk which was pretty cool though. The big highlight of the match was definitely GENTARO playing as the Funkster and locking in the Spinning Toe Hold. *1/2

F-SWAG (JUN MASAOKA & YUYA SUSUMU) DEF. REKKA & TATSUHITO TAKAIWA (9:02)

The heel group of Masaoka and Susumu are quite enjoyable so far as a team but it’s not like they tear the roof off the building. F-SWAG dominated Rekka at the start until grumpy veteran Takaiwa got tagged in and cleaned up the ring before slapping his own partner in the face for a wake-up call. Indeed, Rekka woke up and did pretty well against the heels, he even pushed Takaiwa aside to get a pin against Masaoka, but it was only a two-count. Sure, as the Junior Heavyweight Champion Masaoka lived dangerously and needed to avoid a pin on himself, however, it was the other way around when Masaoka had Rekka in the Insomnia to get the win. **1/4

KENGO & MINORU FUJITA DEF. DRAGON LIBRE & MAMMOTH SASAKI 

The match was better than the tag match before. Kengo, Dragon Libre, and Mammoth were fun in their actions slapping, chopping, and striking each other over the course of the match. There were no fancy moves or sequences during the fight, but it was still a very fun and solid tag match. Kengo won the match with a brutal backdrop suplex which looked very intense though. **3/4

BAREFOOT R-DESIGNATED HENTAI DEATHMATCH
YUSAKU ITO DEF. TAKAYUKI UEKI 

This match was for the unofficial Barefoot King title, created by Takayuki Ueki, with barefoot hentai rules. I didn’t know what to expect of this match, but when Yusaku Ito came out with a rubber doll, you knew what you’d get from this bout. Ueki wore cat ears, a cat tail, and socks that looked like cat paws over his hands. This was a fun match with good comedy spots and creative weapons involved like a drill with a dildo wrapped in spikes and barbed wire for example. The sequence with the roll-ups on the spikey carpet was something, he even stepped foot on it while he tried to slam Ito on a wooden horse. The match ended with maniac Ito putting on barbed wire shoes and a diving foot stomp from the top rope while his rubber doll Jennifer was laying on Ueki. We have a new Barefoot King! ***1/4

TLD DEATHMATCH
DAISUKE MASOKA, TAKASHI SASAKI & TORU SUGIURA DEF. E.R.E (KYU MOGAMI, TOSHIYUKI SAKUDA & VIOLENTO JACK)

What a collection of titles. The reigning King Of FREEDOM World, World Tag Champs, and GCW Tag Champs came to the ring to a loud round of applause. The heel trio had enough and attacked the opponents before the bell, Sasaki and Jack remained in the ring fighting after an equal encounter Jack wanted to shake Sasaki’s hand, and they did. The other two members of E.R.E weren’t happy with the Mexican shaking hands with the faces and interrupted quickly, did we see E.R.E crumbling? Masaoka was the first one to get thrown into the razorblade board thing, which was set up on the ladder in the corner. To make things even worse, the tag champ was the victim of the staple gun just seconds after his flight into the board. Kyu Mogami and Takashi Sasaki’s sequence was funny when Mogami played his “I don’t give a f-” attitude while having his hands in his pockets and getting hit with a barbed wire bat in the crown jewels. Masaoka hit a brutal Fire Thunder Driver from the turnbuckle through a open can table on Sakuda, which looked pretty brutal. The latter was also the one who got pinned by the World Champ Sugiura after a Swift Driver. ***1/2

FLUORESCENT LIGHTTUBES & GLASS ALPHA BOARD DEATHMATCH
JUN KASAI DEF. MASASHI TAKEDA

It’s the 25th Anniversary of Jun Kasai, and you can’t get a more fitting opponent than Masashi Takeda.

This is the tenth match between these two psychos in FREEDOMS. The first one took place in 2009, and the latest match was a ten-minute time-limit match in January this year. “Crazy Monkey” Jun Kasai has won five matches, while Takeda has won four battles with the living legend. These two gentlemen have a rich history with each other, a real love-hate relationship, so I’m as hyped as the Korakuen faithful.

It started a bit slow, but since the first tube broke, it was the party you expected. The first one to bleed was “Crazy Kid” Masashi Takeda when Kasai put a knife into his forehead. They teased who was going to be the first one to go through a glass plate, and finally, it was Jun Kasai who got thrown first. Takeda and Kasai did the usual stuff and broke a ton of light tubes on each other’s head, body, and even mouth. Takeda even used his scissor to cut Kasai even more open, which is always a great spot. Kasai power bombed Takeda onto a board of open cans when something spikey got stuck in Takeda’s arm. “Crazy Kid” fought back and hit a swanton bomb on Kasai, the latter kicked out early, and Takeda kicked him out of the ring – All assisted with light tubes of course. The absolutely insane stuff happened when they went outside, and Kasai threw Takeda from the turnbuckle to the outside through a glass plate, Jesus christ. The finishing sequence was tremendous, thrilling, and fairly open. It went from left to right, and finally, Kasai won the match with the Cross-Arm Stimulation. This was the longest match ever between the two. ****1/4

Some more interesting news after the match when Kasai spoke to a young man. Hiromu Nakamura is his name, and he’s the new FREEDOMS trainee and in typical Kasai fashion, he told Nakamura that he would retire before Kasai did. Fingers crossed, the young man will make it farther than the last trainee of FREEDOMS.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Yes this was definitely a one-match show, to be honest, but man, the main event delivered. Jun Kasai and Masashi Takeda just can’t miss as they continued their legendary rivalry in the main event of this show.

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