Fun retro video runs down the card! The Junior Heavyweight title fight headlines. Let’s see if Wato brings backup (please bring backup).
Drilla Moloney, Daiki Nagai def Yuya Uemura, Masatora Yasuda
Drilla Moloney enters with swagger and Nagai has a towel; for Unbound Co. haters, or for Hontai tears, we’ll see. Yasuda is double knee wrap clad and Uemura tassels it up in his jacket.
Quick feeling out for Drilla and Uemura, leading to a double shoulder block and Drilla slamming Nagai onto Uemura after a tag. Nagai takes it to Yasuda and Uemura before Drilla checks in, struggles briefly, then plants Yasuda with a Drilla Killa. Uemura briefly stares him down in a cromulent but unremarkable opener.
HENARE, Great O’Khan, Francesco Akira, Jakob Ausin Young def Boltin Oleg, Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, Tatsuya Matsumoto
Akira is out here new mask goofin’ as the Empire descends into dickheaded madness.
Oleg and HENARE start beefy, trading strikes and shoulder blocks, HENARE ending the exchange with a spinning heel kick. A shake leads to a full nelson leads to neither man getting a firm upper hand until Yano tags in. We briefly breakdown with O’Khan clawing the hell out of Yano’s cranium.
JAY pounds Yano briefly before Akira takes a turn. Goto comes to the rescue off a tag, suplexing the charging HENARE onto O’Khan before Akira tries jumping on him like an angy child. Goto handles him enough for a Matsumoto tag, who fights through ear wringing offense to land a shoulder backdrop throw, into a Boston Crab. He fires up through a pair of HENARE strikes before Boltin clubbers HENARE in a double down.
A nearfall from Matusomoto leads quickly to a grounded tarantula shoulder hold as Akira earns the win. HENARE and Oleg renew clubberings ahead of their tilt with UE unable to separate the two. Their 03/12 match is gonna be BEEFY.
Ryohei Oiwa, Zack Sabre Jr. def Yuto-ICE, Gedo
Oiwa and ICE will battle in the last first round matchup with the winner facing ZSJ. The diametrically opposed attitudes of Yuto and Ryohei make for a fun matchup, shown best by their tilt at New Years Dash and built a little more each time they face in tags.
The two start trading forearms, Ryohei briefly getting an advantage off a shoulder charge. ICE turns it around with knees and kicks, swaggering around. A bombaclot knee finds the mark as Oiwa absorbs the hit, ducking a PK to land a counter chop block and briefly scorpion ICE’s right leg towards his head. Ryohei fires up but eats a countering knee off a suplex attempt.
Gedo and ZSJ tag in, Gedo chaining surprising pin attempts until ZSJ easily out techs Bloody Hands with a bridging pin. Not too much heat added to ICE v Oiwa but the fight is guaranteed to burn the house down on 03/08.
Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji def. Don Fale, Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Traitorous Kanemaru joins Evil Gangsta Santa for this one. Shingo whips his Inoki towel at Fale as hopes for a miraculous Made in Japan/Last of the Dragon are dashed by Fale clubs. Shingo rushes in bursts at and around Fale, who eats a series of chops and strikes. A huge shoulder block grounds Shingo. Charlton suggests lariating a refrigerator to get an idea of what it’s like to hit Fale.
Kanemaru tries his luck against Shingo, but is unsurprisingly overpowered before Tsuji checks in. It’s a champion’s showcase on Kanemaru, with Shingo helping on a double suplex, leading to a Gene Blast getting thwarted by ref antics from the Heel Master. A swig of whiskey sprays the air as Tsuji decisively puts down Kanemaru on a second attempt.
Other HoT members are nowhere to be seen, which emboldens Shingo to promise Fale he’ll military press him in their fight on 03/10. Shingo continues to the unflappable, swaggering best.
Ren Narita, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO, Dick Togo def Tatsumi Fujinami, LEONA, Aaron Wolf, Shota Umino, Satoshi Kojima
The smooth jazz of Tatsumi Fujinami soundtracks his team, LEONA his son and independent wrestler. All five HoT members come up out with their own prop/NJPW Clue weapon. SHO calls out Fujinami, but immediately bails for the Dick Togo to eat a dragon screw.
Kojima checks in to land his machine fun chops on Togo and Narita before, somehow, being overwhelmed by the combined might of Chase Owens and SHO. Kojima absorbs SHO lariats to land a cutter and tag in Wolf for him to enter the ring top rope jump in style in tribute to Fujinami. He’s a house of fire with throws until SHE cuts him short temporarily, calling for a brainbuster. Wolf counters with a suplex as the action shifts to Shota v Chase.
The two trade strikes until LEONA is tagged to fight Yujiro. The crowd chants for Fujinami’s son, who gets his hand bit and reverse DDT’d. A strike combo ends in a beautiful bridging butterfly suplex, and LEONA disarming a SHO wrench attack but falling to a Yujiro pimp cane. Pimp juice ends the night. Fujinami wards off a smiling Narita and Chase tells the camera that Shota has two days (before Umino beats him and moves on easily).
Jake Lee def YOSHI-HASHI
Punch the Monkey once again enters riding Jake Lee like a tree. Lee is all laughs and theatrics to start, but gets outsmarted temporarily by the no nonsense HASHI sneaking under the ring to surprise him. This can’t prevent a latex gloved gum check though, as the unserious psychological warfare continues.
HASHI is able to get ahead on a top corner exchange for a sit out powerbomb and gets the big man to beg off after landing chops and heavy strikes. Lee is able to turn things back his way with a high head kick but goes for the Face Break too early. HASHI lands a flurry, including a big lariat, dragon suplex, and superkick to set up the Loose Explosion dive bomb. Lee rallies for a front chancery, giant killer knee, and back into the chancery to push HASHI to sleep.
The contrast of styles worked well here as Lee’s unpredictability proved to hard to outlast for YOSHI. Lee points and flops in front of a kid in attendance to tie a weird bow on things.
Callum Newman def OSKAR
Callum has been prodding OSKAR in the tags leading up to this and been eating shit for it, bringing welcome heat and passion to what has felt like a largely flat tournament overall. Both men made slow entrances then immediately come at each other, Callum peppering with strikes and the big man unmoved.
OSKAR sends Newman to the outside off a back body drop then careening into chairs outside off a monster whip. Both Knockout Brothers make every move feel special and the crowd lets the big German know.
Newman turns things around as things go back inside, trapping OSKAR’s leg in the corner and pretends he’s YUTO leading up to a dropkick to the patella. The limb work continues, though OSKAR avoids a top rope double stomp to the knee to land an ill advised leg drop. A chop block grounds OSKAR and allows Callum time to blow his nose at the crowd.
OSKAR frantically goes for his Nightmare Sleeper, but Newman wrenches his knee when the hold takes both to the mat. Marty Asami and OSKAR get knocked to the outside, leading Newman to hit a reckless flying shotgun dropkick into the seats.
One more Nightmare Sleeper attempt in ring leads to a visual tap but no ref to call the submission. Zane Jay buys time for Newman tossing a chair in, leading to a pair of Excaliburs that put down the big German.
Great match to showcase how powerful and overwhelming OSKAR’s brute force can be and how sneaky but deadly Newman can be when given an opportunity. ICE comes in to run off Newman.
Taiji Ishimori, Robbie X def Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles
A bizarre pseudo X files intro recaps Robbie X getting mildly injured in his highlight reel match against Ninja Mack at least year’s BOSJ. He’s rallied since as Charlton breaks down the Ichiban Sweet Boys have beaten X and Ishimori twice in their tag careers.
Shoving and trash talking leads to 4 dropkicks at the same time, headscissors into cart wheels, and flying double roundhouse kicks from the champs for a fun start. The teams swap outside in leading to a rope walk assisted Skytwister Press from X to the champs.
A series of exchanges lead to a combination camel clutch, 90 degree lion tamer combo on X and Ishimori. Wild visual that transitions into a Fujita armbar. Eagles gets a Robbie Robbie Robbie chant going to set up stiff kicks to a kneeling also Robbie.
X able to tag in Ishimori, leading to a Bonelock on Eagles and a double kick handstand neutralizing Fujita before a rope break. Tides turn again as Fujita locks in a Nome special as Eagles runs interference. Lots of strikes and submissions traded in this one.
Flurry of big moves from all four men sees a Sweetbuster get a nearfall with Sweet Boys in control. Interceptor attempt sees a double poisonrana from X, who wipes out Eagles with an Oscutter/Xecution. Open hand slap from Fujita crumbles X, but a deadlift leaves Fujita open to a jumping knee and pseudo magic killer. X hits a twisting press on a prone Fujita for the win and a title change!
A great match with brief dips in spots but inventive as hell with combo moves and solo spots. Unbound Co. picks up more gold, which of course summons pissy Francesco Akira and Jakob Austin Young to ruin the victory celebration. Unbound Co v UE continues as Akira talks shit into the camera.
DOUKI def Master Wato
One more HoT cheating special to really celebrate the Anniversary. Wato is game for wave after wave of cheating tactics, even firing up to throw a Slingblade in tribute to the ringside ACE, but a well-timed low blow from SHO makes his dreams no mo.
But hark! Heroic move theif YOH clad in an EVIL t-shirt puts DOUKI and SHO down with EVERYTHING IS…YOH. Hilariously, YOH announces DOUKI as champion, himself as YOH the next challenger, and cues the confetti to fall to end the night.
by Human_Cress6933