June 15th, 2022
Tokyo, Japan
1) Takao Omori vs. Issei Onitsuka
Good squash opener here. Omori largely dominates and I think calling it a squash is pretty accurate. It did go 8 minutes though and we got to see Onitsuka fire up a couple of times which rocked for the young GLEAT lad. Omori wins a little banger.
Match rating - **3/4
2) Lady C vs. Himeka
This was a blast. I’ve seen Lady C before, but can’t put my finger on exactly where or what show. Never seen Himeka before, but both look great here. Lady C laid some Kobashi style machine gun chops into Himeka at one point in the corner which popped the man himself on commentary as cameras panned to him. This was just a straightforward match with no real flaws and some good sequences. Himeka wins when all is said and done.
Match rating - ***
3) Minoru Suzuki & Takuya Nomura vs. Takanori Ito & Kengo Mashimo
I now need Ito & Suzuki to go one on one with everything in my being. This was your standard Suzuki tag, but the interactions with Ito were soooo sick. I need GLEAT to bring Suzuki in for that match ASAP. Ito goes after Suzuki on the apron early and this pretty much builds to them going at it in the final few moments of this 12-13 minute contest. Suzuki gets the win for he & Nomura.
Match rating - ***1/4
4) CIMA & T-Hawk vs. Jake Lee & Hokuto Omori
STRONG HEARTS :) also wow I haven’t seen Jake Lee in years. Been so out of the loop with All Japan stuff lately. This is a fun little tag. Some shenanigans and jokey stuff you may not expect, mainly from CIMA early on. Things settle in, though, and we get a decent enough finishing run with CIMA & T-Hawk getting the win with the pin on Omori. Lee watches on afterwards and is NOT happy with the result or how lightly STRONG HEARTS took him early on.
Match rating - **3/4
5) Kazusada Higuchi, Daichi Hashimoto, & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, Shuji Ishikawa, & Yuji Hino
What a fucking lineup of mammoths. Earlier in the night, we got promos from everyone involved in this match. I really can’t think of a more perfect main event for a show like this than this one with these particular guys. They represent the style Kobashi popularized so well and they put it all on full display here. This does go to a 30 minute draw and while I don’t think it was necessary or a very thrilling route to go, it was very fitting. There was a little time that felt like they were just killing minutes, but for the most part, this flew by because I could watch these boys try to murder each other all day. An absolute slugfest from bell to bell with a well timed finish that displayed the exhaustion that all six men just went through. All in all, this w
Match rating - ****
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